Smurf Village Upturned
by ScarletteFox
Summary: Come and see, as the dynamics of smurf village are flipped over on their head…
1. Dawn of a New Era of Smurfdom

**A/N: This story is largely self-contained and can be read as stand-alone, HOWEVER, it is also set after the events of my previous story,** _ **The Smurfs That Canon Forgot**_ **, and this will translate through into the text. There will be only very small references/nods and connecting links back to the previous fic, which should in no way detract from the story on its own.**

* * *

 **PART ONE: INSIGHT**

 **Chapter 1: A New Era of Smurfdom Dawns**

A few months after the lost smurfs returned back to the village, Baby Smurf started to talk.

Of course, not with any kind of abrupt fluency. Some time in the past, he had spoken his first word. After such a long gap, his second, third, and subsequent words started to follow during this time.

Two years after the return of the lost smurfs, Baby was able to construct short sentences.

At the three and a half year mark following the time-travelling adventures drawing to a close, Baby's sentences were gradually growing a little bit longer and just a little bit more complex. He was getting better at saying words correctly.

And just under five years after the lost smurfs had finally returned back from their time travelling, Gargamel was dead.

* * *

He wasn't sure how Scruple had managed to find them. How long had he been looking? Or perhaps it had just been pure chance. Either way, they'd turned a corner in the forest, and he was there.

"Ah, smurfs…! Wasn't expecting to actually come across you. But uh, old Gargy's really sick. He has pneumonia again."

"Again?!" came the startled response.

"Yeah. Did you know that once you get pneumonia, it's much easier to be struck with it again? And this new doctor in town… I think he's a quack. He doesn't seem to be helping at all… You know, now that I've found you, I was wondering if… you know, well… I think you smurfs would actually know a little something and be more helpful than whatever the hell that quack doc's been doing."

And so it was that Dabbler and Papa, accompanied by a few other smurfs, went to see to him, but suffice it to say, they weren't able to do any good.

* * *

Baby Smurf could walk. When he had finally grown too big for his usual white jumpsuit, a new outfit was in order. Tailor went to make some white pants for him – smaller, but otherwise identical to those of the majority of the village, but the smurflings would have none of it.

"Let him wear the white pants if he _wants_ to wear the white pants," Snappy huffed, "But what if he don't wanna?"

The smurflings stood out greatly with their unique choices of clothing, to say the least. And now they seemed to want to pass on their eccentricities to Baby, much to Tailor's chagrin.

"Oh, smurf is me," Tailor sighed, awful images flashing in his mind of some kind of bizarre future where every smurf in the village went by a different outfit. It just wasn't natural!

"C'mon Tailor, the times, they are a-changin'!" Sassette added. "If Baby wore boring adult smurf clothes instead of choosing his own style like us, well, that'd just be weird!"

So they allowed Baby _choice_. They laid out different colours before him. But whether he chose arbitrarily or actually knew the decisions he was making, who could say? But he seemed happy enough.

"Ah, a light blue…! And green too? What kinda green d'ya want, Baby? Light or dark?"

"Light!" Baby said brightly, repeating the new word back to Sassette.

They went through this process for a little while, and in the end, Baby Smurf donned a light blue T-shirt and light green overalls on top of that. He appeared to be somewhat confused but _very_ pleased with the new outfit, so the smurflings considered the whole incident a great success.

"And you're free to change your mind any time, if you want a new outfit in the future," Nat had told him encouragingly.

"Or," Tailor added slyly, "If you want to join the rest of us smurfs in our normal smurfy outfits."

Baby Smurf was, in all respects, a toddler now. Was it not time for him to go by a different name? He technically wasn't a baby anymore.

But he had already been known as Baby Smurf for many years, and no one really thought to bring up the issue. He was still the _baby_ of the village, after all, and there was only one Baby Smurf, making things quite convenient. Baby, for his part, could not (yet) and did not bring the matter to attention either.

Besides, what else would they call him? Baby was just, well, Baby. He did not show an avid interest in any one particular thing so as to label himself definitively.

They were going to have to name him eventually, give him a new name. But they could afford to wait a little while longer.

 _He has magic_ , Papa would think to himself from time to time. _So will he be… Magical Smurf? Wizard Smurf? Sorceror Smurf?_ But he hardly wanted to go about advertising the young child's powers like that. It could come with a slew of unwelcome consequences. And would a name like that really fit Baby? He couldn't say for sure.

Sassette was with Baby and the other smurflings when Papa Smurf came to give her the news that Gargamel didn't make it. He brought Sassette off to the side, spoke softly to her, and she started to weep.

The era of Gargamel was finally over. In the past several years or so, they had not really been bothered by him anyway, but he still couldn't be banished entirely from the back of their minds, just in case. Now, it was official. They truly didn't need to worry any more about the most persistent enemy they had ever known. And finally letting go of it would be a great relief.

In a time before Sassette, perhaps some of the smurfs would be borderline celebrating, although Papa Smurf would have certainly disapproved of such behaviour. But Sassette was genuinely upset by the loss, leaving the smurfs to keep any contrary feelings to themselves.

If it weren't for Gargamel, they wouldn't have Smurfette, which at this point was unthinkable. It was funny how things like that worked out, how the one who only wished to bring them harm had unwittingly brought them all a very dear friend who would live alongside them, and who they would all love and cherish for hundreds of years to come. Smurfette, for her part, had always made her stance on Gargamel very clear, and that stance had not changed. She despised him. And unlike the other smurfs, she had never known a time before Gargamel, had never had that opportunity – until now, where she could finally live her life free of the nagging notion that the same awful wizard was out to get her, or use her to get at her friends.

Nat, Snappy and Slouchy had known a time before Gargamel. They didn't remember that time anymore. They didn't exactly have access to those memories, so they were essentially in the same boat as Smurfette and Sassette in that regard.

Baby, too, had been brought by the stork when Gargamel had already been a source of suffering for the smurfs for many, many years. Although he technically never knew a time before Gargamel… He'd not had much exposure to it, was only just now really learning to communicate. _It would be easy for him to forget about, to not remember. Gargamel never had the chance to affect Baby the way he affected the rest of us_ , was what Smurfette thought to herself on the matter.

* * *

 **A/N: This fic is set 11-12 years after season 9, episode 1 of the 80s Smurfs series.**


	2. A Funerary Meeting

**Chapter Two: A Funerary Meeting**

* * *

"Oh, Sassette, I… really don't think Gargamel would have wanted _me_ to be there… And it's too risky, I can't allow-"

"But _Pappy,_ " Sassette pleaded, "Please."

Papa Smurf nodded. "I know, I know…" he fell silent, lost in thought. "Okay, Sassette," he finally relented. "If it is that important to you… I'll go with you. I'll take you to the funeral."

Scruple was quite good at keeping them informed about the relevant information. It was unconventional, but he knew this was for Sassette.

That's how Papa Smurf found himself getting dressed up, for Gargamel. _Well, no. Not for Gargamel. For Sassette_.

Sassette wore a more formal outfit than her standard overalls too, and together, the two smurfs set off to attend Gargamel's funeral.

They arrived at the location that Scruple had told them about by following his instructions accordingly. They soon came across the former apprentice once they arrived, who was helping to set up.

"Oh… you're here," he said.

"Gee… There don't seem to be many people, huh?" Sassette said, looking about. Papa Smurf had been concerned about being in the presence of other humans and possibly attracting unwanted attention, but such fears seemed to be unfounded with such sparse attendance.

Scruple's eyes went over the room. "Ah, some others will probably arrive soon… I think."

A young woman with long, black hair approached Scruple. "Balthazar's informed me that he won't be able to make it today," she told him.

Scruple hardly bothered to conceal his disapproving sigh. "Of course he… Alright."

The woman felt a tug at her long dress before she was able to turn and walk off again. Once she saw the source of the tug, she let out a gasp. "Sassette!"

"D-Denisa…? Tapdancin' turtles, ya look so different all grown up now, but ya still remember me," the smurfling smiled.

"Why of course I remember you, Sassette. How could I forget my bestest friend? Wow, I wasn't expecting to see you today… glad you could make it."

"From the looks of things, it looks like not many people _did_ make it…"

"Oh, well, you know Gargamel… Always kept to himself, really."

"Well that's _one_ way of putting it," Scruple muttered.

"But there's going to be more people than this," Denisa reassured her. "I've got some associates coming, not to mention that a funeral isn't complete without some official Funerary Attendees."

"What d'ya mean?" Sassette asked, confused.

At length, Denisa knelt down closer to the ground. "They attend the service, and pay their respects, and even offer their comfort during such a difficult point in people's lives when called upon. Kind of like a hired mourner… but without all the wailing."

Scruple sighed again. "You're making it sound normal, and not like the reality, which is that you happened to have connections to people that have decided to make it their business to attend funerals for a living. But you insisted, and it sounded respectable enough, so…"

Denisa shushed him. "I think some of them are arriving now… I'll go over to them."

"I don't know where she finds these people," Scruple remarked as she walked off. "I'd never heard of something like it before."

"You mean… they're comin' here today but… they never even met Pappy Gargamel before?" Sassette asked softly.

"Yeah. The place will look… more full. Probably a respectable enough send-off that Gargy would have appreciated."

Sassette looked up at Scruple, unsure of exactly how he must have been feeling in that moment. "I think you'll really miss Pappy Gargamel, right? You must care a whole lot, to have been so involved in the organising of all this."

"If I didn't, then who else would?" Scruple replied. "You know, Gargy took care of me for many years… He didn't take care of me very well though. Actually, he treated me pretty badly. That's just how it is sometimes, I guess. But in the end, he had no one else, which is kinda sad when you think about it. No one except the kid he mistreated for so long." He then remembered who he was talking to, and realised now was probably not the time to unload years of emotional baggage. "Uh… but if I'm being honest, yeah, I guess I'm kinda gonna miss him."

Papa Smurf stepped in. "If I may speak," he said politely, "I find it slightly surprising that you were so receptive to Sassette and I's attendance today. You were very helpful, and don't seem to have any ulterior motive."

Scruple allowed himself a brief laugh. "What, you'd think I'd try and capture you or something? That was Gargy's thing. The only way I take after him these days is in being a failed wizard. You know, I never really actually cared about capturing any of you." He finished off with a shrug. "Anyway, I think the service is starting soon, so you two should probably take a seat."

"Scruple didn't seem to have many nice things to say," Sassette commented to Papa once they were out of earshot, "And I thought that, on today of all days, you're supposed to say nice things, and even if you do have mean things to say… that you're still not supposed to say 'em."

Papa Smurf put a hand on Sassette's shoulder. "I think Scruple might be dealing with a lot of complicated and contradictory feelings right now. But you're right – he's put in effort organising this for Gargamel, which certainly means something. He says that Gargamel had no one else… but when Scruple was a child, I think he had no one else either."

They found a relatively unobtrusive place to sit down. Papa had come prepared lest anything went wrong, so now he could ease his mind and just focus on being there for Sassette. He was about to reassure her further, but the service began before he could continue. She managed to remain mostly dry-eyed throughout the ceremony, Papa Smurf right there next to her at every stage. No one appeared to pay them any mind or really notice the two small, blue creatures at the otherwise uneventful funeral. They both sat in silence, and then, after some time, the proceedings were over.

As people began to get up from their seats, Sassette blinked, looked about, as if waking up from some kind of trance. The woman that had been sitting next to them was one of the few who still remained seated, like them. Sassette looked at her curiously, and then their eyes met.

"Hello, there," the woman said gently.

"Hello… Um, did you… know Pa- Gargamel?" Sassette asked.

The woman looked back at her sadly. "Oh, I didn't, I'm sorry. I never met the man, but I'm sure he was wonderful. I take it the two of you were rather close to him?"

Papa Smurf decided not to correct her.

"No one… Hardly anyone here who came today knew him. And even the people who did… it was like they didn't even care!" Sassette wiped a tear from her eye. "I think he deserved to have more people who really cared about him. Maybe then he would have been nicer."

"It looks like you have a very big heart," said the woman. "And I think Gargamel was very lucky to have made a friend like you."

Sassette looked at her lap. "Why are you here?" she asked. "If you didn't even know Pappy Gargamel…"

The woman at last introduced herself. "My name is Roesia, and I'm a professional mourner. Lately, a couple of other professional mourners as well as myself have been trying something different and extending our services, where we'll come and pay our respects but we're also here to talk to if you need it, and it seems like right now, you need it."

Papa Smurf spoke up. "I don't want to sound in any way impolite, but wouldn't introducing yourself as a mourner somewhat defeat the purpose?"

"We want to be open about what we are – we don't want to deceive anyone. We are important aids both spiritually and ceremonially. But if we're asked to not be so open about that, of course we're going to respect that. I can't speak for other mourners outside of my circle, however."

"It must be quite something."

"Yes, and it's always interesting, the kinds of people you meet at funerals," Roesia said casually. There was a slight glint in her eyes.

"Well we're not exactly _people_ , are we, Pappy?" Sassette pointed out.

Roesia laughed good-naturedly. "Yes, I suppose not. But it was still a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, Roesia," it was Denisa again. "Thanks for everything. Are you able to come and help us pack up?"

"Of course," Roesia stood up.

"Ooh, and I see you've met Sassette!" excitement slipped through Denisa's voice, but she kept it mostly subdued, given where they were.

"Sassette…" Roesia did her best to shake her hand, albeit awkwardly given their relative size differences, and then she shook Papa's too. "It was a delight."

"Wow, I like your necklace!" Sassette said. Roesia's movements had shifted the previously obscured piece of jewellery into view.

"Ah, thank you," Roesia said, hastily tucking it back out of sight, "It helps me to see."

"Huh…" Sassette said curiously, but Roesia was already getting up to leave.

So at that, the smurfs and the humans bid each other farewell, and Sassette gave the now-grown Denisa a big hug.

They went to say goodbye to Scruple, too, before they left.

"Thanks again for letting us come, Scruple," Sassette told him. "And… I wish you all the best. Hope things go well for you."

Scruple was a little taken off-guard. "Uh… yeah, me too I guess. And you… too?" he made a face, even at his own words. "You know, I don't know what old Gargy ever did to deserve your goodness… the guy really should've appreciated you more. Oh well. Yeesh, I've really gotta get going…"

Sassette smiled at that, and the two smurfs waved as they walked away from him.

"Goodbye Sassette, goodbye… Papa Smurf," Scruple said awkwardly, finding himself waving too.


	3. Oversight

**Chapter Three: Oversight**

Hardly two weeks passed before Sassette saw Roesia again. There was something about her, and that first meeting, that perhaps Sassette should have known she would see her again sometime.

"Goodness, it's a _human,_ " Vanity exclaimed in warning, stopping Clumsy and the two smurflings tagging along from going any further.

"What's that lady doing out here in the forest?" Snappy whispered.

When "that lady" turned slightly to the side, it allowed Sassette a better view of her face.

"Oh… That's not just any human," Sassette said, and began to venture forward.

"Sassette, no!"

"What are you doing! Papa Smurf wouldn't approve of you just walking up to a strange human like that!" Snappy scolded her.

Sassette ignored them. "Roesia?"

Roesia was abruptly startled out of her reverie. "Oh, Sassette… What are you doing here?"

Sassette turned back to the other smurfs. "See? Roesia's no stranger. I met her at Pappy Gargamel's funeral."

Roesia smiled. "How have you been doing?"

"I'm feeling a bit better now. And as for your other question – we oughta ask you the same thing! Why are you just sitting here in the forest?"

"I'm new to these parts," said Roesia, "And I've decided to start exploring the surrounding area. It's beautiful, really… I like nothing better than to sit and observe nature in my spare time."

"Gosh, are you – were you a – a friend of Gargamel's?" Clumsy asked nervously, to which Roesia shook her head.

"She never met Pappy Gargamel," Sassette explained as the others came over, all of them still eyeing Roesia cautiously. "Roesia… goes to a lot of funerals, to help out. She's a… funeral attender."

"How _morbid,_ " Vanity remarked distastefully, and Sassette gave him a look.

"I see you have some more friends," Roesia said, shielding her eyes slightly and looking at all the smurfs standing together.

So the group all met Roesia, and told her about how they had been in the middle of a game and were all versing another team. After chatting for a little bit, they bid her goodbye and returned to their game in search of the opposing team. Roesia had made it quite clear that she would likely be hanging out in the forest for some time to come, and she was right.

Coming across Roesia in the forest became a semi-regular occurrence for the members of smurf village after that. Sometimes, some smurfs sought her out specifically, just to say hello, as she'd largely settled in one specific area of the forest. Naturally, Papa cautioned everyone to be careful, especially about what information they revealed. Everyone did their best to not mention any important information accordingly, just to be safe. Roesia didn't seem to mind – she seemed to mostly be about small talk anyway. No one gave any indication of where Smurf Village might be, and Roesia never asked.

 _If we come across her by chance, it seems there's no harm in talking a little bit or saying hello… To not do so would be rude_ , was Papa's line of logic. _Although it's probably best not to specifically seek her out if we can help it_. He warned against doing this, although the occasional smurf would still drop by while they were running an errand. It was nice to have a new friend, after all, and Roesia seemed quite lonely there all by herself.

Sometimes, though, Roesia must have been in an off-mood and didn't seem very interested in chatting. Or she would just seem… disinterested altogether.

"Must have caught her on an off day," Tracker, and a couple of other smurfs, would say.

Jokey, Hefty, Painter and Dreamy decided to stop by and see Roesia before heading back to the village. They even made sure to approach her from a different direction each time to help further prevent any chances of her finding the village. Jokey and Hefty led the way, as Painter and Dreamy had not been this way to meet Roesia before.

"Hello!" Jokey called.

Roesia's face lit up when she saw them. "Oh! Hello! And who is this?" she gazed down at Painter amiably.

"My name is Painter," Painter said in his usual thick accent.

"Oh, that sounds great! Does that mean you like to make beautiful pictures?"

"If I did not, then my name would not be Painter," he grinned.

Roesia laughed.

Dreamy smiled too. "It's lovely to meet you Roesia, I'm-"

"I'd love to see one of your paintings. What do you like painting the most?" Roesia asked Painter.

Painter replied, Dreamy going unheard. He tried again.

"Hi Roesia!" he jumped up and down a little bit. "Nice to meet you!"

Roesia finally caught sight of him and she looked genuinely taken by surprise. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there."

"We thought we'd stop by with some new faces," Hefty told her. "Everyone's heard a lot about you."

"I'm flattered," Roesia told them, and the conversation went on for a little bit, Roesia getting to know Painter and catching up with Jokey and Hefty.

"It sounds like you've all got quite a bit going on," she said.

"Oh, and me!" Dreamy piped up. "Me too, I have a lot going on."

Roesia nodded pleasantly, absentmindedly. "Of course."

They left soon after that, Dreamy feeling rather dejected, although the others hadn't seemed to notice anything wrong.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Harmony reassured Dreamy later when he described the meeting. "Like, she was the same with me. Didn't seem interested in my music at all."

 _I think it would be stranger if she_ _was_ _interested in your music_ , Dreamy thought to himself, but refrained from trampling on Harmony's feelings.

"To me, it's like she only seems to care about Sassette and Snappy," Nat said from nearby. "I guess because they're the ones who met her first, and maybe because they're both younger too… Slouchy and I kinda gave up on visiting her."

"She really is quite lovely," Smurfette was speaking now. "You probably just caught her on an off day. Or maybe your interests just don't align with hers. She's always happy to talk about flowers with me."

Whatever it was, Dreamy wasn't inclined to go and see her again.

* * *

 **A/N: thanks to all reviews so far! It's much appreciated.**


	4. A Proposal

**Chapter Four: A Proposal**

"I'm busy working hard on my latest works, and this is what I get! I've got to be the last smurf in the village who still hasn't met this Roesia," Brainy said, irritable as ever.

"Heh, I wouldn't say so… Don't think she's actually met Baby yet," Clumsy mused.

"Good. I don't actually want to be left until last, so I'm going to see what all the fuss is about over this human in the forest. But…"

"Do ya know the way?" Clumsy asked lightly.

"No" Brainy admitted sheepishly. "Clumsy… Will you show me where she is?"

"Gee Brainy, all you gotta do is ask," Clumsy said happily.

* * *

"…And, of course, you have Papa, and none other than myself," Painter told Roesia, proudly displaying the painting he'd brought to her.

"It looks amazing," Roesia replied. "But I think there are some of you missing? Where's Smurfette, and Sassette, for example?"

Painter nodded. "This group portrait, it is a little old now. I made it before Smurfette came to the village."

"Ah, that makes sense then…"

"Hiya, Roesia!" Clumsy waved.

Roesia turned away slightly from the approaching smurfs. "So… bright," she muttered.

Brainy strolled over confidently. "Why, yes, I am very bright! My name is _Brainy_ , after all."

Painter rolled his eyes, getting up from where he sat. "Was good to see you, but I should be getting back now," he nodded to Roesia, then looked over at Brainy and Clumsy. "I suppose I shall leave you to it." He took his painting with him. Roesia waved her goodbyes and then turned to acknowledge the two newly arrived smurfs.

"How nice to finally meet you, Brainy! I've heard about you a little from the others. And it's always good to see you, Clumsy."

They spoke for a little bit, Brainy being allowed ample room to properly introduce himself.

"So… what about you, Roesia?" Clumsy asked, during a little break in the conversation. "Maybe you could introduce yourself a little to Brainy!"

"Oh, me?" Roesia looked at them intently. "I'm a Reader."

Brainy's face lit up. "Oh, you like to read? Well, I like to write! You're in luck!" he started launching into a monologue about all the great books he'd written, capturing his timeless knowledge, when a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Hellooo! Your _favourite_ smurf has come to pay you a visit!" it called.

"Vanity! Oh my, aren't I popular today?" Roesia remarked cheerfully.

"Gosh… Vanity's your favourite?" Clumsy looked over as Vanity adjusted the flower in his hat.

"I'm _everyone's_ favourite," Vanity corrected with a sly smile, "Wouldn't you agree, Clumsy?"

Clumsy giggled. "Ah, no such thing as a favourite smurf, just different smurfs!"

Roesia nodded at this. "Exactly".

Brainy cut in, clearly annoyed at the interruption caused by Vanity's arrival. "Vanity, Vanity, Vanity-"

And then Clumsy abruptly seemed to remember something. "Oh, no!" he said out loud. Everyone else turned to him.

"Oh, I- I just remembered I promised t' help Smurfette out with somethin'- I gotta go but I'll be back real soon!" a laugh, a smile and a wave, and then he was hurrying off.

"Be caref-" Brainy began, just in time to see his friend trip over.

"I'm okay!" Clumsy reassured them as he got up again and disappeared into the forest.

Vanity cast a bored, aside glance at Brainy, undeterred that someone else was already here to visit Roesia. "The _week_ I've had," he began, sitting down and making himself comfortable, "I think you'd be interested to hear about it."

"Now wait a minute. I was already talking to Roesia. I was telling her about the wonderful works of me, Brainy Smurf!"

" _Shhhhh,_ " Roesia said soothingly, "I am interested to hear about all of these things. But we've got all the time in the world, don't we? In fact, I think we should organise a day soon to meet up, just the three of us. There's something I'd like you both to see. How does the day after tomorrow sound?"

"Ah, I don't see the harm…" Vanity began slowly. He'd met Roesia many times before.

Brainy's curiosity was piqued. "Something none of the other smurfs know about?"

Roesia nodded, and Brainy felt a great rush of self-satisfaction. She'd only just met him, and yet she must already be able to see the extent of his intellect! Why else would she offer him exclusive information? He was hardly listening as Roesia gave them quick instructions of where to meet; Vanity was taking note.

"A different meeting place…?" Vanity lowered his mirror somewhat, and peered at Roesia from over the top of it. "…Information no one else knows? Then why tell us?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll show the others too. But I just thought, if you two wanted an exclusive little bit of insight first? I wanted to keep it a surprise, too. Just the three of us to know, for now."

After Brainy's initial burst of excitement, he was now cautiously mulling it over the same way Vanity appeared to be.

"Well, can you give us any more information?" Vanity pressed.

"That would ruin the fun, wouldn't it?"

Vanity gazed deeply into his mirror. "Then we don't agree to go."

Roesia inclined her head. "I understand. You are, of course, free to-"

"We'll meet right here," Brainy said assertively. "If we need to go somewhere else, we can walk. You'll give us more information first. And _then_ we'll decide if we want to go or not." He could sense that Roesia was withholding important information now, and he wanted very much to know what was going on, especially before all of the other smurfs.

Vanity nodded along to this – it sounded agreeable enough. There was a lot less risk involved.

Roesia smiled. "You know, that's a pretty good idea – better than mine, actually. I can see why the two of you are worried, so I suppose I'll have to do more to reassure you both that you needn't be."

"It's nothing personal," Vanity commented. "It's just a matter of safety."

Roesia nodded. "I'd be the same way."

There was a rustling and they all turned to see Papa Smurf stepping into the little area in the forest that Roesia had made up for herself.

"Oh… hi, Papa Smurf," Brainy didn't have a reason to sound nervous, did he? _Technically_ they weren't supposed to go into the forest specifically to see Roesia, but he didn't know that Brainy didn't have any other errands to run, did he?

"How nice of you to drop by!" Roesia looked pleased.

"Yes, good to see you too, Roesia. I hope you've been well." Papa then turned to Vanity and Brainy. "Interesting that I should find the two of you here together… But I'm afraid you're needed back at the village."

"Yes, Papa Smurf," they replied, bid Roesia adieu and began to head off.

"So, how have you been, Roesia?" Papa prompted, remaining behind. He asked her about how things were going. She'd been hanging out in the forest for extended periods of time quite a bit now. He gently tried to see if she had any other plans coming up, but did not exactly receive anything concrete in terms of her replies.

Roesia asked him much the same questions about how he's been going in turn, and then Clumsy returned to the clearing just as he'd promised, only to find that Vanity and Brainy were now gone.

"Ah, gee, where'd they go," Clumsy wondered after greeting Papa Smurf.

"Brainy and Vanity?" Papa guessed. "They're needed back at the village to get the final preparations ready for Wild's birthday tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah! I should probably be helping out with that too, huh?" Clumsy realised.

"Well, I think the village mostly has it covered, but we should be getting back in any case," Papa told him.

"That's a shame," Roesia told Papa. "I hardly get to see you! Give Grandpa my best wishes."

"I will," Papa assured her.

"And I hope things pick up with the harvest, although I'm sure that shouldn't be an issue for a great and powerful wizard such as yourself," she added brightly. A complimentary tone.

Papa paused. Yes, he had mentioned to her just now that they'd been having some trouble with the harvest…

But…

"I'm sure things will pick up very soon," he said, trying not to let his speech sound stilted. He politely bid her farewell, and left with Clumsy.


	5. Creeping Suspicions

**Chapter Five: Creeping Suspicions**

When Papa sent Brainy and Vanity back to the village, they looked back only to see that he was not coming along with them, but rather remaining behind with Roesia for a little bit. He didn't get to see her often, Vanity supposed. And it was always nice to chat to her, have someone to listen. Someone that existed outside of the dynamics of Smurf Village, wherein the mere act of talking to her would not influence those dynamics – someone who wouldn't gossip. Someone who always seemed to know just what to say. Of course, Papa Smurf was always ready to have smurfs confide in him if they needed it, but he was also usually very busy – not so with Roesia.

Now of course, Papa warned against sharing any important information with Roesia, because they still didn't know to what extent they could trust her, and the last thing they wanted was important information falling in the wrong hands. So, what constituted "important information"? Vanity doubted there was much harm Roesia could inflict purely by knowing about his latest disagreement with Farmer, or if he told her about the fabulous birthday present he'd gotten for Wild, or how he and Smurfette had come to an agreement in their latest friendly debate.

In all of this, however, he was commendably careful, if Vanity did say so himself. He fully realised that in this manner, perhaps it was easy for something that would probably be best left unsaid to filter through. Well, the solution to that was simple. He always screened what he was going to say rather carefully, even when the subject matter was purely social and far removed from what one may constitute "important".

"You go and see Roesia several times with no issue at all, and yet Papa shows up on my _first_ instance of going to see her," Brainy huffed, more to himself than anything. _He just couldn't win!_

Brainy - now there was a smurf who didn't know how to keep his mouth shut at the right times, Vanity thought _. Perhaps his limited interactions with Roesia were for the best, as much for Roesia's sake as it was for the village's privacy._ He didn't know anyone who could put up with Brainy for very long… well, except Clumsy.

"So," Brainy said as they walked back, "do you think it's a trap?"

Vanity pondered this. They were both probably being overly cautious anyway, although they'd trusted humans in the past and it usually hadn't ended well. "We just have to be careful… It's not like Roesia is a complete stranger - she's a friend. She's already had so many opportunities to try to capture or hurt us smurfs and yet she didn't, so I don't see why this should be different…"

That was good enough for Brainy – Vanity had interacted with Roesia much more than he had, so he would accept his judgement.

They arrived back at the village and helped work on doing up everything for Wild's birthday, not thinking much more on it. They'd just have to wait and see.

* * *

"Everyone I spoke to so far was sure they're always careful when they speak to Roesia…" Papa told Grandpa, feeling unsettled.

"Well, it can be easy to let slip something like that without realising it. I can only speak for myself, but it could have been something as simple as one of the others saying "while Papa was in the middle of working on a potion"…"

"I understand what you're saying, but…" Papa shook his head, "I think there's…" he paused. "I think it's better to err on the side of caution. Some of my little smurfs have been seeing Roesia an awful lot. I think they've been ignoring my request to only see her if they come across her, or if she's directly on the way to somewhere they're going."

Papa couldn't help but notice the rather guilty-looking expression that appeared on Grandpa's face when he said this.

Papa continued on, "I've been happy to look the other way up until now, because it's smurfy that the village has made a new friend, but…"

"…But you think it's best that they start seeing her less?" Grandpa prompted.

Papa looked at Grandpa. "I think it's best that they don't see her at all."

"Ah… that's a shame. You don't think it's a little hasty?"

"Just until we can find out a little bit more information about this Roesia and can be more sure that she can be trusted," Papa reassured Grandpa.

"Well… Alright. I trust your judgement, even though I feel that you may be worrying a little too much over this. When are you going to make the announcement?"

* * *

"No more seein' Roesia?" Sassette was perplexed.

"Ehh, that's no difficulty. She's not that great anyway," Nanny remarked. "I'm sure you'll be fine Sassette – Papa's said it should only be temporary anyway."

"I- _if_ she can be t-trusted," added Scaredy, in a rare instance of speaking up.

Vanity and Brainy shared a look, both trying to discern what the other made of this development.

"Well, of course she can be trusted," said Hefty a little defensively, "but… alright, Papa Smurf."

"Now we can put it out of our minds, and just focus on Wild's birthday for tomorrow," Papa said, finishing on a lighter note.

The crowd began to disperse, only a minority (like Sassette and Hefty) seeming affected by the announcement. Vanity and Brainy gravitated towards each other.

"Are you still going?" Brainy asked in a whisper.

Vanity nodded. "We already told her we would. She'll be expecting us. Just the one last time… then I'm going to avoid her as Papa wishes."

"If Papa Smurf suspects that Roesia is hiding something… well, he's right. There's whatever she'll tell us about, for one. It may be completely benign but she still could have given him that impression as a result. So, if anything, we'll probably find out what it is and be able to sort out this whole misconception." In truth, Brainy's mind was set. He had planned on still going regardless of whether or not Vanity would be coming with him, at least to get the information.

"Well, either way, I'll see you, then," Vanity told him.

Yes, see you, then.


	6. The Smurfs Who Knew Too Much

**Chapter Six: The Smurfs Who Knew Too Much**

Wild's birthday was celebrated as planned the next day. That night, Brainy wrote up a little note that he then tucked into his drawer, detailing the fact that he and Vanity would be going to meet Roesia and the nearby location she wished to bring them to. He wasn't too overly worried… but he found it worthwhile to at least leave some kind of information that the smurfs would be able to find, just in case something went wrong. Over the years, both Brainy himself and his fellow smurfs had been captured many times by all kinds of humans or magic folk such as imps. In the past, Brainy would have been (and was) a lot more carefree, but he'd finally reached a point where he'd learned to be a little bit more wary after so many unsmurfy incidents.

When morning came, he ran into Clumsy on his way to meet Vanity. He felt guilty that Clumsy wasn't coming too… Brainy realised that he wished he was. But that hadn't been part of the agreement.

"Gee Brainy, ya seem t' be headed somewhere! Where're ya goin'?"

"Ah – you'll find out about it Clumsy, don't worry. I promise." _I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can. According to Roesia you should know soon enough anyway… it's just that Vanity and I are getting an exclusive peek._

He left Clumsy there, puzzling over his cryptic reply, and hurried off to Vanity.

"Should've known you wouldn't be on time," Vanity sniffed.

"Oh, come now, I'm pretty sure you were just early."

The two smurfs made their way off into the forest, into the trees, away from Smurf Village. Vanity had made the trip out to see Roesia so many times before, but this felt decidedly different. And it _was_ , of course. What did Roesia have to share with them, to show them? What kind of information would be waiting for them?

Vanity had to increase his pace to keep up with Brainy. Brainy went to go even faster, but Vanity pulled him back with a tug. "Show some restraint," he admonished. But they'd had so much time to think over Roesia's words over the past day and a half, and now that they were actually on the way there, Vanity had to admit that he was a little excited. But they couldn't be so obvious. _And if Brainy really had been so keen, maybe he should have actually met me a little sooner!_

They arrived at the clearing, and Roesia was waiting for them.

Vanity wanted to tell Brainy to let _him_ do the talking, but he doubted that the motormouth smurf would ever agree to such a thing.

Roesia spoke first, in a pleasant tone. "I'm glad you made it, are you ready?"

 _Yes_ , Brainy almost said right then and there, catching himself just in time.

"Ready? You haven't even given us any information. I believe that was what we agreed on," Vanity spoke up.

Brainy crossed his arms, trying to mimic how detached Vanity looked.

Roesia laughed softly. "I know. I hope I can put your worries to rest. I just wanted to share with you some insight… show you, let you see a little of what _I_ can see."

Vanity looked at her. "What you… can see?" After a few moments, his eyes narrowed. "What do you mean."

"What I mean is… when I look at someone, I can see everything about them. Their very _being_."

"Uhh…"

"Their very… being….?" Brainy shrank away somewhat.

Her voice was soft and sweet. "Wouldn't you like to see?"

"You're… You're no ordinary human at all," said Brainy accusingly.

"Did I ever claim to be?" Roesia asked innocently.

Vanity's turn now. "You've never once mentioned any of this!"

Roesia nodded. "I'm sorry. But it's not something I would go around telling everyone about. But I'd like to think it's about time it should be brought up. And I never did lie to any of you – I really do attend funerals for a living! This is just… Another part of me."

Brainy's mouth was dry. "How," he said. He swallowed down some nervousness and pressed on. "How does it – how would it work."

No, he shouldn't be asking, should he? He shouldn't be here. He should probably get back to the village, back to tell Papa Smurf. He doesn't move.

"It's simple, really. I have my materials hidden not far from here. Just five minutes is all it would take to walk there, and for me to reroute a little of my magic, allowing you both the gift of insight."

"But _why_ ," Vanity insisted.

Roesia sighed. "It's your choice. No reason for me to force you."

"It could be a trap," Vanity said, both to Brainy and himself. "It's probably a trap."

"But I'm telling you the truth." Roesia looked at Brainy. After what she'd just revealed, he didn't like that. He didn't like it one bit. "How am I to prove it? I see so much, and I see neither of you would want me to be open about your personal information."

"As if I have anything to hide," Vanity challenged.

Roesia looked directly at the flower-hatted smurf. "Don't be so sure."

She returned her gaze to Brainy when Vanity fell silent. "You feel threatened by Dabbler Smurf, don't you? _You're_ the one who's supposed to be Papa Smurf's assistant, who helps with his potions. But now Dabbler can do magic too, so where does that leave you? You're glad he just sticks to healing magic for the most part, because the rest, well, that should be your domain…"

Brainy shifted uncomfortably.

 _Oh, she could have deduced that on her own_ , Vanity tried to tell himself. But as far as he could recall… Dabbler didn't care for Roesia and never tended to visit her. Brainy had only met her for the first time the day before yesterday, and clearly he'd said nothing of the matter.

And… No one was supposed to mention anything about magic to Roesia.

He'd personally never really given Dabbler's new magic skills a whole lot of thought, so it hadn't occurred to him how Brainy might feel about them.

"It's up to you. If you want to go now, you can go. To be completely honest, it makes no difference to me. I just thought I would offer you two this chance."

Brainy very much didn't like the demonstration that someone else had advantages that he did not, could wield tools regarding his very self. Abilities that _he_ could…

"We should leave…" Vanity urged Brainy.

Perhaps they should leave. In that moment, poised, if Vanity had grabbed his hand and run, Brainy supposed he would follow. But he didn't. Vanity remained where he was, and so did he.

"But… the possibilities," Brainy whispered. The… potential. If Roesia was being honest, if what she was saying was true…

"There's no need to be so apprehensive, Vanity, after all the conversations we've had," Roesia chimed in.

"It's not far from here…" she added, began to take a few steps. Brainy gave a last look at Vanity, and followed.

"Brainy…" Vanity sighed. It was no use. _If anything goes wrong… it's all your fault_. He wasn't willing to leave Brainy to follow her on his own, so he trailed after them.

After walking a little, Roesia sat down in the grass. She reached into the neckline of her dress and withdrew a necklace. "This is what I channel my magic through," she said. "It helps to fully draw out and allow me to use my abilities. So all we'd need to do is..." she reached down and plucked Vanity's mirror from his hands.

"Hey!" he cried.

"I'll give it right back," Roesia promised, "I just need to use an object to quickly reroute some of the magic through. Then you'll be able to see as I do."

"…If that's what you want," Roesia added, and waited.

"Is it… permanent?"

"Not if you don't want it to be."

"Then… Yeah. I guess I'm doing this now," he said with an air of resignation. Roesia was his friend, wasn't she? Now that Vanity was actually here, he was calm. It didn't seem like a trap. Would she not have sprung it by now? His curiosity and excitement was returning somewhat.

Vanity and Brainy gazed in wonder as Vanity's mirror began to glow. She was infusing it with magic.

It was over, just like that, then she held out the mirror for Vanity to take. He reached for it, grasped the familiar handle in his palm. It felt the same as always. Was that it? Had all that been for nothing? Then he looked into the mirror.

…Oh. _Oh_.

"My smurfness… It's incredible, it's amazing, it's… Me!" Vanity exclaimed. He sat there, somehow even more engrossed in his own reflection than normal.

Brainy stood off to the side, fidgeting nervously. "…Vanity? Vanity!"

"She wasn't lying, Brainy," Vanity murmured, not looking up.

"Are you ready?" Roesia asked, her attention now turned to the other smurf. "Like with Vanity, I'll need an object I can use for the magic…"

Brainy didn't have any mirror on him like Vanity did, but Roesia seemed to think that wouldn't be a problem. Then a kind of realisation dawned on him. "My… My glasses? Oh, but I need those…"

"It's okay, Brainy," Roesia reassured him, "I'll be careful with them. Now they'll help you to see even better – in more ways than one."

Slowly, Brainy removed his glasses, squinting at the blurs that then overwhelmed his vision. He held out the spectacles, blindly, felt Roesia remove them from his hand.

Before he had too much time to dwell on how vulnerable he now was, his glasses were promptly returned to him, and he slipped them on. Roesia came into view. Nothing… No difference.

"It didn't work," he said flatly, disappointed.

Roesia hid her smile. "It's not going to work on me. It's my magic you're using, after all."

That was annoying. So she got to see all about him, but he couldn't see anything about her? So much for a level playing field.

Then he looked at Vanity.

"Oh…" he was taken completely off-guard. "I can see. I can see…" He could see not only the smurf that Vanity was, but the smurf that he _could_ be. He could learn all there was to learn, just by looking. What wasn't there? The vision didn't operate through memories – he couldn't see those. But he didn't really need to. He could see who Vanity was, his character, his potential, all outlined in front of him. He could see how Vanity felt about _other_ smurfs. But… he squinted, searched, found something important missing.

He could see Vanity's character. So could Vanity, seeing and learning things about himself that perhaps even he hadn't known before. So wouldn't it stand to reason…?

Driven by a sudden desperate curiosity, Brainy tugged at Vanity's mirror, but the other smurf had a very firm hold on it. Exerting more strength, he yanked it out of his grasp.

"Hey! Brainy, what are you-"

Brainy managed to keep him at arm's length for a few moments before Vanity snatched it back. Enough to get a good look at himself. He turned back to Roesia, at a complete loss.

"I can see into everything, except…" he faltered. "…Myself."

He could find no indication that Vanity even knew who he was. He was just as closed off to that area of Vanity's mind as he otherwise would be, without the assistance of Roesia's magic.

"Ah… I don't think you're ready for that," Roesia told him.

 _Not ready?! How convenient…_ And how off-putting that he likely didn't need to say a word. Roesia would probably already know his sentiments towards her answer.

He looked over to Vanity hopefully. "Vanity, _you_ can see… You can see me… If you'd just look…" but he wasn't. Brainy grabbed him, gave him a small shake. "Look at me… Please."

Vanity gave him a withering stare. "Will you stop that."

"What do you see?" Brainy asked eagerly. "Vanity, what do you see?"

Vanity's eyes had already returned to his mirror. Brainy shook him slowly.

"Mmm… Mmmm?" the self-obsessed smurf would only make noncommittal sounds. It wasn't any use. It was like Vanity could hardly hear him, as focused as he was.

Roesia shook her head, "perhaps I will show you sometime, Brainy, so you can see it all for yourself… But for now, I think you'd want to be getting back to your village. Congratulations, you're both Readers now. Readers of others."

"Come on, Vanity," Brainy said, started to walk off. Came back, pulled Vanity along after him. He seemed determined not to look up from his mirror, not even for a moment.


	7. Illumination

**Chapter Seven: Illumination**

* * *

The glow surrounding Vanity's mirror faded, but the brilliant glow surrounding Vanity didn't. Now surely, the moment the others saw him, they would suspect something was amiss.

Could Brainy glow, too? Or was it just Vanity? Was something particularly special about Vanity, that even he couldn't see? Brainy wanted that brilliant, supernatural sheen too. It wasn't fair…

"Smurf!" Brainy cried out as Vanity tripped over, taking Brainy down with him, "can't you at least TRY to look where you're going?"

Despite the mirror's glow fading, its magic clearly remained.

Returning to the village was a great shock that Brainy was not expecting. Everywhere he looked, there were smurfs, and a multitude of inner selves jumped out at him, swiftly washed over him. At first it was thrilling. He could see, he could _see_ , but it quickly grew overwhelming. If he managed to keep just one smurf in his line of sight, he could _focus_ , but if any others entered his vision, it was too much. And the _glowing_. Couldn't anyone see it? The other smurfs hardly gave Vanity a second glance. And then he saw Smurfette, and _she_ was glowing too. What was smurfing on? He shut his eyes against it all, swiftly began retreating to his house.

Smurfette's voice came to him from nearby, "Brainy? Are you alright?"

Brainy reluctantly opened his eyes. She was still _glowing_ , it was too _bright_. "Smurfette," he told her, "you're glowing." Why couldn't she see how much she shone?

"Oh, Brainy…" she smiled demurely in surprise, "thank you…"

He left her there, found refuge in his home. Laid down for a while.

At length, he peered out his window. He could see a couple of smurfs. It was still overwhelming. But… if he _really_ tried, he could just focus on a particular smurf, and the information being thrown at him from the others would dim. Perhaps he could train his eyes…

He couldn't read thoughts. He didn't have access to those, and in fact it would most certainly be too much to bear if he could. But if he saw into their essence for long enough, Brainy sensed that it would allow him a decent estimate of what a smurf was probably thinking at a given time. That was an awful lot of power…

* * *

"Brainy's sure taking his time to come get his dinner," Greedy commented.

"He didn't have any lunch either," Smurfette pointed out.

It had been a good lunch, too. Greedy would almost be offended that Brainy had chosen not to come out and eat, but nothing had gone to waste, so it was alright. Greedy had eaten his portion. And if Brainy _insisted_ on not having any dinner either… Perhaps Greedy could live with that, too. He licked his lips.

"It's 'cause I think Brainy said he wasn't feelin' too smurfy," said Clumsy, getting up from his seat. "I'll go over an' see how he is, tell him t' come get some food."

"Ah, alright," Greedy said, trying not to sound disappointed. He could bake himself up something later.

Handy ran his finger along his spoon absentmindedly. "Well if he's coming down with something… I don't want to catch it. It would halt progress on my current project."

 _Catch_ … From next to Handy, Baby Smurf stirred, slipped under the table.

"Come now, sit up at the table properly like a good boy," Tracker instructed, trying to pull him back up again, but Baby wriggled free.

"Let's play catch," the young smurfling said slyly, "catch me…!" and he rushed off, on somewhat uncertain little legs.

Grandpa stood up. "I'll get him," and he went and scooped up the little smurf who had just tripped over, dirtying his outfit.

"You're a sneaky little whippersmurfer," Grandpa told him, "it's time for dinner now, yum yum! So let's go back to the table."

Baby shook his head.

"Come on, Baby, I don't want to tell Papa that you're being cheeky. He's busy in his lab right now."

"Let's eat away, let's eat away," Baby insisted.

"Away from the table? Hmm… You know, Papa tells me I'm far too easy on you sometimes, and I think he's right. You're a very lucky little smurf, because I think this is quite a smurfy evening. Why, I've eaten my meals out in the forest and while on the move many a time. We can go and briefly visit Wild…"

"Yes!" Baby exclaimed loudly, "Wild!"

* * *

Clumsy knocked on his best friend's door, "Uh, Brainy? Greedy's already served up dinner. Don't want ya to miss out! If ya not quick, I think Greedy'll eat it all up."

Just when Clumsy thought Brainy was just going to stay in there, not saying anything, the door opened. Brainy looked at him very strangely.

"…Brainy?" perhaps he _was_ starting to fall ill…

"Yes, yes… I'm… Really hungry. I shouldn't have skipped lunch."

* * *

First Baby had left, Grandpa following. Then, just afterwards, Vanity had sidled up to the table. Greedy slid Vanity's bowl over to him, but Vanity did nothing at all to even acknowledge it.

"Yeah, you're welcome, Vanity," Greedy grumbled.

Grandpa returned with Baby soon after, walking up to the table from behind where Vanity sat.

"We're gonna go say hi to Wild," Grandpa told them, scooping up his and Baby's bowls. Baby jumped down from Grandpa's arms just as the door to Brainy's house opened, stood just behind the older smurf. If Greedy didn't know better, he'd almost say he was hiding.

Before Greedy even had a chance to reply, they were walking off into the forest. Clumsy came over with Brainy shortly thereafter. Brainy looked like he'd smurfed better days, readily sitting down, and looking at Greedy far longer than he was comfortable with.

"Um, Brainy. Your meal."

"Ah, yes, thanks." As he ate, he started to look just like anyone looked when Harmony played his "music". He closed his eyes, ate a mouthful with them still closed. Greedy was about to ask him what was wrong when Brainy's eyes snapped open and he stood up.

"I can't, I can't… I'll… finish this in my home…" and just like that, Brainy was gone too, his dinner with him.

"Well, that smurfs it," Greedy said, exasperated, "so much for a nice dinner we smurfs could all have together!"


	8. Hide and Seek

**Chapter Eight: Hide and Seek**

 _It was night time, and the stars were shining brightly in the sky, helping to illuminate the darkness. Baby Smurf walked about the serene village. Sleeping time, sleeping time! He was looking up at the moon, not looking where he was going, when he ran into Puppy._

" _Hello, little one," said Puppy._

" _Puppy!" Baby gasped, "you talk!"_

" _Don't be silly. Doggies like me can't talk."_

" _You talked! You talked! I heard you!"_

 _Puppy barked._

" _You're silly!" Baby laughed._

" _Let's play a fun game together," Puppy suggested._

" _Game!" Baby cheered._

" _Do you know how to play tag?"_

 _Baby nodded._

" _What about hide and seek?"_

" _Yes, yes!"_

" _Let's play both!" Puppy pawed at the ground._

 _There were other smurfs now, going off in every which direction, playing along too. Scattered laughter filled the air. Baby giggled, running off to find his own hiding place. He couldn't be found, couldn't be found by the smurfs that were "it"! Then he tripped over, colliding roughly with the ground. It was Painter's paintbucket that had sent him sprawling, and he'd just landed among several other paintbuckets, getting paint absolutely everywhere! He could see it so clearly in the dark. Bright, luminescent paint. It covered him now. It had splattered on some of the other smurfs too._

 _Baby got up again, kept on running, but the paint was too bright. He couldn't get it off. He stood out too much in all the darkness, illuminated by the neon substance dripping off him. How could he hope to avoid being seen? They were so close, and if they found him it would all be over…_

" _Puppy…" he called out with a whimper. The game had been so fun before, and everyone had been so happy, but the scattered laughter from before was giving way to crying. Not the good kind of crying, when you laughed so hard it brought tears to your eyes. It was the sad crying, it didn't sound good._

 _Then Puppy was there, he curled up around Baby, comforting him, enveloping him._

" _Puppy, I don't like this game anymore," Baby said. He could feel his lower lip trembling._

" _Don't cry, little one," Puppy chided gently, "or they'll hear you."_

Blackness filled the dream, until Baby became aware that he was merely looking at closed eyelids. It was still night. Papa was fast asleep in the bed across the room. Baby had his own little bed – he'd long outgrown his cot – but Papa still stayed with him, and soon Baby would be ready to sleep all by himself, but he was glad he hadn't woken up in a room alone tonight. The bad dream had left him shaken. He wanted to cry, felt like crying really loud, but remembered Dream Puppy's words. So he breathed heavily, not allowing the heavy breaths to turn to wails. He was starting to have bad dreams… he didn't like it. Was this part of getting older, too? Like teething, like your teeth falling out? Baby wasn't looking forward to all his teeth falling out when he was older. Then he wouldn't be able to eat anything solid until the new, bigger teeth came in… And how long would that be?! Didn't teeth grow slowly?

He got out of bed. He must have been the only smurf in the whole village who was awake right now… He went over to the window. Puppy was just outside, right next to the house, curled up and asleep.

It was too early to wake up, and Baby could feel his eyes wanting to close once more. He went over to where Papa was sleeping, found himself some room on the bed. He was sure Papa wouldn't mind, and maybe he'd help chase the bad dreams away…

* * *

 **A/N: Guest reviewer Eris commented ages ago asking when Brainy and Puppy will appear in the story, ahah, well, now that's been answered regarding both characters (I thought I would wait until Puppy's first chapter was posted before addressing the question)! They also asked after whether other characters such as Johan and Peewit will be in this story. At the moment I don't have any solid plans to have them appear, no, although the possibility hasn't been ruled out completely, I think that at this point it's unlikely. If they do appear, it will probably be quite brief. I also wanted to say that I always try to reply to reviews (and if I haven't responded to yours, I'm sorry!) but when it comes to guest reviews it's a lot more difficult since they can't be responded to directly. In such case, my goal is still to always answer questions that guest reviewers have where I can!**

 **I'll probably put aside space in an author's note to thank everyone who has reviewed in future as well. Thanks so much to all my readers - I can tell you in all honesty that this story is only just getting started. It's quite an ambitious project I've set for myself, but a long time coming. And I sincerely hope that what I have in store will be worthwhile for you all. 3**


	9. Access

**Chapter Nine: Access**

It didn't matter who he looked at, or how hard he searched. There was never anything about him, not even a hint. Brainy did his best to cope with the overwhelming flood of information that each smurf bestowed upon him by mere virtue of existing – he was determined to at least make it all the way through breakfast without running off again. What was the point of having new powers if you weren't able to handle using them? He'd just have to get accustomed to it. _He'd demonstrate to Roesia that he was MORE than able to look into his own essence_. Who could possibly know the brilliance of Brainy Smurf better than Brainy Smurf himself? It was insulting to be denied access to his own soul. It was unfair that he could see how all the different dynamics amongst Smurf Village worked, but there was nothing about how _he_ fit into it all.

He successfully made it through breakfast with little fanfare, went to go back to his home to rest. It was taking everything out of him. He caught sight of Clumsy on the way there, and a pang of guilt went through him. He would normally confide in Clumsy, so why not this time? Hadn't he pledged to tell Clumsy all about it? Was he unwilling… or unable?

And Papa Smurf… He probably wouldn't approve even if he hadn't just forbid visits to Roesia. He'd probably have his new abilities taken away if Papa found out, and Brainy would never have a chance to learn more about… himself. (Not that he needed the insight to perceive of the true depth and greatness of his own potential, of course. But it would be a nice confirmation of what he already knew.)

It struck Brainy that he hadn't even had a chance to see the village leader since his return from his fateful encounter with Roesia. Hadn't had a chance to _see_ him… Oh, he could peer into Papa Smurf's brilliant mind! There was so much for Brainy to learn, and he could learn it all, and then no one would ever be able to argue that he wasn't just as wise! He'd just arrived at his own door, but he turned right back around again and headed to Papa Smurf's lab instead. He'd been busy working away at something recently, taking his dinner late and now even his breakfast, apparently.

He walked into the laboratory, prepared to announce his presence with a "Well _hello_ , Papa Smurf!", but seeing the much older smurf through his new vision promptly left him speechless.

Well, he probably should have expected as much. Brainy had known every other smurf in the village since they were all young. When he could see into their psyches, naturally there was plenty to learn, and sometimes quite surprising revelations, but it was for the most part embedded in the familiar domain of smurfs he already knew quite well.

But Papa Smurf had lived a long life, and his existence stretched back long before Brainy had ever known him. The weight of what there was to see was that much greater as a result. Brainy was suddenly being confronted with dimensions to Papa he'd never known – how he'd grown into the smurf he saw before him, each previous version of Papa leading into the next. It was terribly difficult to process.

He could see Papa Smurf as a child, back when he hadn't been called that. He could see Grandpa Smurf, several hundred years ago, as he was seen through young Papa Smurf's eyes.

It was intrusive, wasn't it? He'd been given no kind of permission to see what he was seeing, had no right to look into Papa Smurf's soul, someone's soul, _anyone's_ soul. With the other smurfs it just felt like… like reading a secret diary, but this…

"Brainy?" Papa Smurf's voice came to him, sounding concerned. Brainy was staring at the ground now. Sitting on the ground. When had he gotten there?

Brainy found his voice. "S-sorry, Papa Smurf…" (What else could one possibly say, upon prying into another's business like that?)

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Brainy. Is there anything I can help you with?" Papa Smurf reached out a glowing hand. Yes, Papa glowed, too. That, Brainy really didn't understand. Why did some of the smurfs in the village glow? What could it possibly mean? It didn't smurf any sense to him.

He wanted to tell Papa Smurf everything. But he didn't. "No, Papa Smurf," Brainy said. He looked up at Papa again without thinking, and just like that, he was being assaulted by all of his personal information once more. He couldn't control it – he would _see_ when he looked at someone, whether he wanted to or not.

So his eyes quickly moved to the surrounding laboratory instead. He wondered what Papa Smurf was currently working on, was ready to ask him just that – but oh, right; Papa Smurf was working on what one would call _counteraction_ potions. It was something that required a lot of time, care and precision, as it was an attempt that Papa was currently making at trying to see if he could perfect potions that would only counteract _parts_ of particular spells. Because if he managed to find a way to do that, it would open up a whole range of other possibilities for exploration and be able to expand his knowledge greatly. But it was also a very delicate balance – counteracting a spell as a whole was a comparatively very simple task. But parts of a spell? That was something else entire… entirely…

Now he noticed, he noticed that Papa Smurf was looking at him, wide-eyed.

"Well, yes. But how did you know any of that, Brainy?"

Huh?

"How did I…? Um." Brainy took off his glasses, pretended to clean them. That was better. He could see nothing like that, and perhaps it was better this way. "I am your apprentice, am I not?" he laughed unconvincingly.

He didn't see Papa look him over suspiciously, didn't stay to chat. He just turned around, slipped on his glasses and left. If he could have made it back to his house without them on, then he probably would have foregone the spectacles altogether.

And even as he flopped back onto his bed, so much of the new information had already dissipated from his mind. That was another thing, wasn't it? Much of what he'd discovered about the other smurfs refused to stay in his head, floating out with ease as it were, only to return when he saw them again… Given the sheer volume of information, it was probably no surprise. And everything was getting jumbled. It seemed like the only time he had a clear view was when a smurf was right in front of him.

* * *

He felt ashamed, going back to Roesia so soon.

So he wandered the forest aimlessly for a while, debating with himself, acting an awful lot like Flighty in the process, trying to make a decision. At least it was a lot more safer to do so these days, now that Gargamel was gone, and the other unsmurfy creatures of the forest… Well, suffice it to say that they tended not to really bother the smurfs anymore.

It was probably best for Roesia to remove his Insight into the other smurfs. Surely she would understand, right? He was starting to realise that, perhaps it wasn't right to have free access to everyone's inner selves. Access to his _own_ inner self, now that was another thing entirely. Wasn't it obvious? Roesia should do the trade with him. Allow him to see into himself, but not into anyone else. This willing sacrifice may just be the proof that Roesia needed in order to grant him that.

But… Roesia could see into him, and he didn't want her to have any indication that he was having some difficulty with it, with anything. Maybe she would take it in quite an opposite manner and consider it proof that he wasn't ready, wasn't worthy, couldn't _handle_ to see his objective self. (Which made no sense, of course. He was Brainy Smurf, after all. He was more than competent at so many things.)

And did he _really_ want to lose the insight? Surely it couldn't hurt to keep it a _little_ longer. Just long enough to see himself through the eyes of the other smurfs! He, Brainy Smurf, with his highly analytical and objective-based mind, surely already knew himself well enough. The other smurfs, with their terribly subjective minds, however… Through what lens did they view his greatness?

The glowing… he also needed to ask Roesia about the glowing. That was reason enough to pay her a visit. Was it any cause for concern? Was there cause for concern for the majority of smurfs that _didn't_ glow?

He'd be disobeying Papa Smurf again. And he was alone this time – he didn't fancy Vanity's recent antisocial antics, and needing to guide him around anyway since the flower-adorned smurf no longer cared to look where he was going.

Perhaps he should just go back to the village already. He laid down on the grass, exhausted. Interesting aspects of and information regarding other smurfs in the village were still bouncing around energetically in his mind, on top of everything.

It was all a little bit too much. He wasn't equipped t-

"Brainy?"

He sat up quickly. It was Roesia. Had he really, truly just thoughtlessly walked into her little domain without even realising it? Augh, now her eyes again would rob him of his mind's privacy. Great.

"Don't worry about the glowing," Roesia said.

"Didn't even say anything. It's like you really see everything."

Roesia closed her eyes. "Oh, not everything… there are things I can't see into."

"Like what?"

Roesia smiled strangely. "Time."

Now that she was right there in front of him, Brainy wasn't saying or asking any of the things he wanted to. What was the point? Chances were, she already knew. All of it. Just what had he smurfed himself into…

* * *

Helping others psychologically. It was something that Roesia was very skilful at thanks to her insight into the minds of anyone around her. She could map out the best paths to take when approaching someone, whether it was to disarm, if that was what they needed, and then to gently prod them in the right directions.

Well, it was not always necessarily used for helping others.

But that did make up the bulk of how she put her talents to use. To help others was a very useful thing that just made things easier. Getting to know them, gaining their trust, extending connections and finding new individuals in turn… It was a largely harmless endeavour for everyone involved. In fact, the vast majority of her encounters involved people that benefited from it, from her intervention, if she were able to carefully draw an individual's attention to an area of themselves that they needed help with, and, given that she had the time, provide some sort of guidance of how to make it better. At times, it was a sort of idle hobby of hers, one that could be woven into her career. There were always so many people at funerals who needed a little assistance.

So there was no denying that she could wield her insight to help people and was quite adept at doing so, but it was not her ultimate goal.

* * *

Ultimately, Brainy did not get the insight removed. He had been at a kind of stalemate with himself – he didn't want to go back to the village with it, but he refused to ask Roesia to remove it. His desire to have full access, if only for a little bit, was too strong, and he didn't want to risk jeopardising that.

And so it was, with a newfound determination to prove himself and to get better at handling the power that he'd been given, that he returned to the village.

Why, he'd be able to see everything about himself in the mirror in no time, just like Vanity…


	10. Draining

**Chapter Ten: Draining**

It was no mystery to Baby Smurf who was "it". His dreams as of late had been lined with mirrors, and large, oversized glasses of the exact same size that might as well have been mirrors. As he walked by them in the dream, he could see his own reflection in the lens. They were looking for _him_. But he didn't want to be found. So he adapted. He started navigating Smurf Village carefully. He'd already been making himself scarce. Whoever he was with, whether it be Lazy or the smurflings, was stuck haplessly following him around in his efforts at avoidance lest they lose track of him – the little smurfling would not be contained.

Grandpa seemed to catch on, catch him in his little hide and seek act with smurfs that didn't seem to be aware they were playing.

"Well… I'll be smurfed if I'll ignore or disregard the clear signals of a young smurfling," was all that Baby heard Grandpa say on the matter, more to himself than anything. He wasn't sure what that meant, but the much older smurf seemed to be supportive.

From the looks of it, Grandpa was noticing something _different_ about them too, and other smurfs were beginning to follow suit… Baby heard talk that Vanity was starting to neglect his chores.

Baby was glad that he didn't need to do any chores around the village yet, and wouldn't for a long time. It was more fun to just play. Slouchy and Nat, however, they were being given more and more responsibilities these days, now that they were getting older. Although, it really didn't have to be _so_ difficult. Why didn't Slouchy and Nat just use their magic when tasked with things like cleaning up? That's what Baby would do. Just wave your hand about, and everything would fall back into place. He even tried to suggest as much, but they wouldn't listen.

"This isn't one of our games Baby, we really _do_ have to clean up!" was all they would say.

It would be so easy for him to just wave his hand and get the job done for them, but there was probably a reason why the other smurfs always seemed to refuse to make use of their magic in their day-to-day lives. Maybe there was a rule against using magic for that kind of stuff. In which case, Baby didn't want to break it in front of the others and get in trouble. Besides, he was too young to do chores! If a task was allocated to Slouchy and Nat, then _they_ had to do it. So, restricted in this manner, Baby would simply stand by and watch.

* * *

Brainy found that if he did it just _right_ , it was even easier when he wasn't trying to concentrate, but to instead let a more subconscious force take over. Although it did tend to leave him a little… talkative. Blurting out observations, at times. All he knew was that it was easier, so he'd slipped into it, but he hadn't been expecting this. And it was much harder to slip out of…

He did his best not to be inspecting every aspect of the other smurfs' selves. Sometimes he stared at the ground, at a table in front of him, anything but them. He just needed to keep it up until he was finally allowed to see his own self. At other times, he couldn't look away.

Grandpa came over to him, warily.

Brainy was always doing his best not to let his eyes come into contact with the older smurfs especially, now. Sometimes it was unavoidable. This seemed to be one of those times. Was he going to be forced to engage in conversation…? He felt that their privacy had an added layer of sacredness to it that he shouldn't be trespassing into.

"Hello, Brainy," Grandpa said carefully. Insights into how Grandpa's extensive travels had shaped him danced about in Brainy's mind. _He could see his connection to Nanny Smurf, lasting far back into their pasts, back when she looked just like every other smurf_.

"…You seem distracted," Grandpa continued.

He couldn't look at Grandpa for too long, even if he wanted to. He was just too bright, almost painful to look at. His glow had to be the strongest out of all the smurfs. Brainy was left with no choice but to shield his eyes from the unbearable brightness of his being.

Grandpa's voice came to him once again. "Brainy…?"

"Nngh… Sorry." There was one way to help alleviate this mess… he took off his glasses, just as he'd been doing whenever speaking to Clumsy recently. It was easy to readily slip them off around his best friend and just _talk_ to him normally. It was a little familiar, in a comforting kind of way, as it harkened back to when he hadn't been able to wear his glasses at all, and Clumsy was there to look out for him. That meant he already had plenty of practice with talking to a Clumsy that he couldn't even see. A carefully practiced motion of letting his guard down a little, as it were.

Although Grandpa was unused to such a motion.

"I just need to give my eyes a rest," Brainy explained, seeing nothing now, no more eye-straining incandescence.

"Hmm… Perhaps you're in need of a stronger pair of glasses," Grandpa suggested, "Papa and I could take a look at them…"

"Oh, no, it'll be fine. I've just been staying up far too late recently, aha."

"Well… Okay. But Papa did want to speak to you, in any case," Grandpa prodded, "just to make sure everything's right and smurfy."

Brainy shook his head. "No, I mean I – I'm _fine_."

"Brainy…"

" _Please_. I _appreciate_ the _concern_ , Grandpa, but there's nothing wrong." _He could handle this himself!_

He snapped his glasses back on. He did not wish to deal with the disadvantages of being unable to see right now. He wouldn't smurf that vulnerability for anysmurf. Why should he?

"You've been acting mighty strange as of late, you know. We're a little… worried. You weren't, heh, advising everysmurf in the village as you normally do for a few days, but then uh, when ya did…"

"When I did, I smurfed more truth than was expected? Well _excuse me_ for being perceptive of my fellow smurfs. Why not worry about yourself, Grandpa? That memory of yours, you've been fretting over it more and more, of how there's so much memory that seems to be lost to you now. On some level, does it not constitute the breakdown of the self? If our memories are an integral part of our makeup, and you're losing them, you wonder if it heralds a loss of identity." Brainy had trailed off into his more monotonous tone towards the end of that, as that autopilot he'd experienced lately had taken control. He was back now. "It must be terrible to not have access to those important aspects of your own self…" he turned away from the older smurf then, not wanting to face him any longer, and just kept walking, past Smoogle sporting that inexplicable radiant sheen. It was strange, wasn't it? The way that Smoogle glowed, but Nanny didn't.

He came across Vanity, and stopped. He had dark circles under his eyes, which was highly unusual for the smurf normally so preoccupied with beauty. Wasn't Vanity always the one going on about _beauty sleep_? The moment any blemish appeared on Vanity's face, he'd always been quick to react, to take counteractive measures. He wasn't sure if he'd seen him dishevelled like this before.

He was exhausted. Just as exhausted as Brainy was.

"Vanity, you've been hopelessly lost in yourself for far too long! Don't you think it's time to give it a little rest?" Brainy asked. Vanity was muttering into his mirror feverishly.

"You could look into another smurf. Like me. And tell me all about it." He sat down in front of Vanity. Still no reply? How rude.

So then he relaxed, slipping far too readily into that more robotic state of mind. He didn't have to feel tired, did he? He could just flip that switch. So, what was going on, inside of this smurf he knew too well, and who knew himself even better? _Vanity Smurf, there is such a thing as too much introspection, you know_ … "You're losing the bigger picture. When you look at something for too long, a single thing, it stops making sense. When you focus on something too much… it loses all meaning. In the very act of trying to know all about _you_ , you've left yourself with nothing, rendering senseless the very concept of a self, _your_ self, which as is anyone's, is ever-changing, seems to dissipate the closer you get. How can you categorise it? You're unable to consolidate anything now. But still, you try. But haven't you started to notice the ongoing feedback loop that begins to start up, when _you_ is all you focus on? The self observes the self, ad infinitum, but what does that make the _true_ self, when it all interacts, intersects? Who is the unobserved observer? There is none. So what it becomes, is self- _destruction_. The self observes itself and then crumbles until there's nothing left to see."

"At least I stick to myself, stick to minding my own business." Vanity was talking. Finally, he was talking. "You know, I don't actually appreciate you seeing into all that is and should be secret to me."

"But right now, you can barely see yourself. You can't see like I do. You don't have an outsider's perspective. And I can see that you need to focus on something else."

…But he wouldn't, would he? He caught glimpses of the others, could even see how looking away from his spellbinding mirror would, if anything, be far more rewarding at this point. But his infatuation with the smurf he saw in the mirror was just too strong. It consumed him. And he was too proud to admit he was getting sick of it, he was actually getting _sick_ of it. It had been amazing to really _see_ himself for the first time after receiving the insight, and now it was habit, stubborn persistence, and the desire to have that level of clarity again that drove him to keep on gazing into the glass, fruitlessly.

Brainy spoke again. "You should go back to Roesia. Have the insight taken away."

"Oh, I will. Right after you do." Vanity cast him a glance. A glance that said, _got you there, haven't I?_

"It's having a terrible effect on you, you know. You really should."

Vanity turned his eyes on him now, didn't look away. Oh… Now he was seeing into _him_. "Unlike a certain someone, I can actually see myself perfectly well. Haven't you paid any attention to yourself? You're not exactly doing very well either. You risk losing yourself in a sea of others. The self that _you_ cherish so much is slipping. You see, two can smurf at that game, Brainy Smurf. But here's the difference: I can see into myself."

They were locked now in the strangest impasse, where both could see just about everything about the other. They could see the concern they had for each other's current predicaments, wished to impel the other to do something about it, while stubbornly doing nothing about their own.

Vanity continued to study him intently.

"Can you tell me what you see, Vanity?" Brainy asked hopefully. "What do you see…?"

Vanity only smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

And at that snide remark, all of Brainy's patience flew out the window. "Yes!" he hissed in frustration, restraining himself from allowing the exclamation to turn into a shout. Vanity was simply tired and choosing to be petty.

But he was tired too.

"Fine. If I can't know… if I can't see me, then why should you see you?" Brainy went to snatch Vanity's mirror away, but he leaned back out of the way. Brainy was undeterred, grabbing at the mirror persistently.

"You shouldn't smurf with this mirror anymore, Vanity!"

"It's mine! Get away!"

They struggled over it, two sets of hands trying to wrench it away.

"Great smurfs! What is smurfing on here!"

They looked up. Papa Smurf. A little behind him, they also saw Architect, who quickly averted his eyes, walked off whistling. Ah…

Vanity spoke first. "He's trying to take my mirror, Papa Smurf! Well, I say he should get his own mirror!"

"Papa Smurf, from just one look at Vanity you'll clearly be able to see that-" the two smurfs started talking over each other rapidly.

"Okay, okay, enough!" Papa looked the two now-quiet smurfs over before continuing, taking in the bags under Vanity's eyes with disapproval and suspicion. "Vanity, I thought I told you to finish your chores!"

"O-oh, sorry Papa Smurf…" Vanity replied.

"I think your attachment to your mirror this past week has been too unhealthy. I have no choice but to confiscate it."

"But Papa, please!" Vanity protested, aghast. Brainy was snickering.

Papa Smurf shook his head. "When I can see that your tasks have been completed, then we can talk."

"Oh, it just isn't fair! What about Brainy, trying to smurf my mirror away like that?"

"It was for your own good! Papa Smurf agrees with me, and Papa Smurf is right, because-"

"-And as for you, Brainy," Papa said sternly.

"W-what? Me?"

"You haven't been yourself lately… I want to see you in my lab."

* * *

It was such a useful method that managed to double as a fun little experiment to match. Roesia had never really shared her insight with anyone before, but she knew that such a thing was possible. And now, she could observe the results firsthand. But that was only secondary – whether or not they had accepted the insight, it would make little difference in the end. This would simply make things go just a little bit more smoothly – a way to doublecheck everything for absolute certain to confirm that she was ready.

An extra pair of eyes or two wouldn't hurt – it could only serve to benefit her in the end.


	11. Resolve

**Chapter Eleven: Resolve**

Papa Smurf was worried about Vanity. He'd been vaguely aware that something was amiss, but had just been so busy in the lab this past week. After all, it was hard to tell how much "being preoccupied with his mirror" was a cause for immediate concern when it came to a smurf like Vanity.

These were all things that Brainy Smurf knew by looking at Papa Smurf.

What he didn't see was how smurfs had also been coming and telling Papa Smurf that _there was something different about Brainy_. This much, Papa Smurf suspected himself. He had tried to keep an eye on Brainy, but the other smurfs had also been keeping him so busy these past few days. Between that and the lab, there was little time to investigate too extensively.

 _Papa Smurf, I commend you for finally taking action, Vanity's been attached to that mirror for far too long_ … is what Brainy wanted to say, to start and to try to steer the conversation, distract from the main point at hand. But that was so much more effortful than his trusty autopilot responses, wasn't it? He was so worn out, from earlier, the time spent just being… himself.

"How are you, Brainy?" Papa Smurf asked slowly.

"I'm… fine."

"Are you sure?"

"…No." he didn't know… how much longer he could keep this up. He was slipping…

Papa Smurf nodded supportively. "I'm here to help. Would you like to tell me about it? Then perhaps I can help you."

Yes. Tell Papa Smurf… he wanted to. He'd… smurfed off more than he could chew, and he needed some help. Vanity was right. But he didn't seem _able_ to talk about any of it. What kinds of other blockages had Roesia instilled in him…?

"I wouldn't want to take you away from your work. Every potion is still always resulting in that same black, slimy substance, isn't it? A neutraliser of sorts. It hides, and it dims, magic. But it's not what you wanted because it does so in a blanketed fashion, it does not target specific parts of specific spells. It's much easier to make and if you don't balance everything just right, that's going to be the result… You should probably start disposing of it properly."

"You'll stay in the sick bay, tonight, and we'll talk more tomorrow. Until you can tell me what's going on, or I can find out…" Papa Smurf stood up, began to carefully lead Brainy there.

* * *

Of all the people she had seen into the essences of in her life, everyone had their own story. What Roesia learned quite early in her life was that she could not afford to get too caught up in those stories, as they were immaterial to her own life. She had her _own_ story and life to attend to, just as they. The most important question always was, and always had been, did anything exist in the essences of others that could help _her_? She would poke and search sometimes as she listened and gave emotional aid, just to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary, always searching for something _more_ , something _big_.

* * *

"In the sick bay! Gee, I knew he was actin' a little strange lately, but…"

Papa nodded gravely. "Be careful Clumsy, if you do insist on staying with him. I hope there's nothing seriously wrong… I suspect that perhaps Brainy and Vanity's behaviour is connected, somehow."

Papa Smurf continued on, frowning, "It just doesn't make sense for Brainy to know some of the things he's talking about…" There was someone else he'd encountered recently, who had also seemed to know more than they logically should…

Perhaps it was high time to start up that investigation into Roesia.

Outside, it was turning dark. Tomorrow… tomorrow, he would get to the bottom of this.

* * *

"I can fix this." Brainy paced about the room. Dabbler had long retired to bed – he couldn't keep an eye on Brainy at every minute. Clumsy, however, was there and listening. He'd be there even if there hadn't been annoying, sensationalist talk sweeping the village. _"Sounds like Brainy's finally lost his mind"_ …

He wasn't taking his glasses off anymore, the way he had been around Clumsy the past few days. It didn't seem to occur to him to remove them, even when he'd lied down and slipped into a shallow sleep a little while earlier. But he was awake now. Clumsy fought to stay awake too, to be there with him.

"Or – I must try."

Clumsy yawned. "How – how can ya fix it, Brainy? So ya do know what's wrong…?"

"Yes, yes…" he walked quickly to the door.

"Whoa, whoa," Clumsy took his arm in his hands, held him back. "You're s'posed to stay here. Papa Smurf's orders."

"No, I-"

"Now where can ya possibly be smurfin' to, at this time'a night? You gotta stay here, yep, yep!"

"There's no time to waste… I don't have much choice."

And then the door opened right up, neither of them having so much as touched it. Vanity stood in the doorway, glowing mirror in hand.

"What are ya doin' here? You should really go back to bed," Clumsy told him crossly, "don't ya know what time it is?"

" _You_ don't know what time it is," Vanity said pointedly.

"And just what are you doing with that confiscated mirror, Vanity Smurf? Ooh, wait until Papa Smurf hears about this…!" There he was, the normal Brainy, reappearing in bursts.

"Didn't I tell you I'd go, right after you did? So let's go, shall we?" Vanity swiftly pulled Brainy outside.

"Uh, go where?" they were already walking away from Clumsy. He took a few steps after them, tripped, sent them all sprawling. "Ya can't… Papa Smurf said…!"

Vanity picked up the mirror, stood up, dusted himself off. "We have to. Don't worry. It'll solve everything. We can all wake up tomorrow and just go back to normal."

Clumsy wasn't sure what to think, but he wasn't very convinced. "Why is your mirror glowin', huh? Huh?"

Vanity kept his eyes on Clumsy. "Oh. You can see that right now, too? Interesting. Well it'll make a smurfy light amidst the darkness of the forest, don't you think? That is, if we three weren't already walking lanterns…"

"I glow, too?" Brainy was thrilled. It was the first bit of information Vanity had ever given him about what he saw – about _himself_.

"You can't just wander off into the forest," Clumsy insisted, "at least wait until tomorrow…"

"Oh, we're grown smurfs… And we can't afford to wait. We simply must throw off the shackles of this accursed insight as soon as we can." Clumsy didn't know what Vanity was on about, but he sounded determined.

The sky was gradually starting to lighten now.

"…And it's already tomorrow," Vanity pointed out, tugging Brainy along after him. Clumsy followed, wringing his hands.

"You shouldn't follow us, Clumsy… You should get some rest," Brainy advised, his tone sincere.

Clumsy shook his head adamantly, "I'm not lettin' you outta my sight. I'll follow ya around anywhere… 'cause I need to make sure you're okay. Especially now. I'm worried about ya. If ya won't listen to reason…"

Vanity smiled to himself. "Well if you're coming along, hold on to this, will you?" he tossed Clumsy his mirror. "That thing's been more than enough trouble for me this week."

"Aren't ya tired, Vanity? Shouldn't ya sleep?" Clumsy urged. They were rapidly nearing the forest now.

"Yes," Vanity admitted, "but once I'm finally rid of that mirror's magic, I can catch up on as much sleep as I want. Just you wait – you'll be mistaking me for Lazy!"

* * *

Clumsy could have called out to wake up the other smurfs, or rushed away to grab Papa, to do anything to stop these two smurfs from wandering off into the forest like this. But to do so, in and of itself, would have been to risk losing them – to have them slip away from him, and he needed to ensure their safety. He could have gone to grab Papa, but then they would have left without him, and how would he find them again? He could have called to try to wake other smurfs up, but perhaps then Vanity and Brainy would have run off without him. Clumsy could hardly keep his eyes open; he didn't trust his ability to keep up with them, especially given his tendency towards tripping over.

He realised he didn't even know where they were going.

He tripped over anyway. Vanity and Brainy both helped him up.

"Where are you goin'?" Clumsy asked them, nervous.

"To Roesia. She did this to us, she can un-do this to us," Vanity explained.

"Oh, no! Ya didn't disobey Papa Smurf's orders, did ya? Y-Ya disobeyin' 'em right now! Ya gotta turn back… tell Papa Smurf, he'll be able t' help!"

Vanity kept on walking, Brainy not far behind. "We can't wait, Clumsy. We can't afford to wait."

"But – but why'd she be in the forest at this time, huh? She'd have t' be fast asleep!"

"Oh." Vanity thought for a moment. "Then we'll just have to wait for her. The sooner the better, Clumsy, the sooner the better."

But they arrived shortly thereafter, and to Clumsy's alarm, she _was_ there, and she _was_ awake, and seemed to be working on… something.

No, that wasn't right… This wasn't right.

He couldn't even take anything in. He needed sleep.

"You're early," Roesia remarked.

Clumsy's eyes were closing. He blinked himself awake.

Vanity cut straight to the point. "Take away the insight."

"Okay…" he heard her say.

Clumsy walked absentmindedly. There was a particular spot on the ground that seemed good – there was just something about it. Like it was a spot just for him, and there he sat down. He didn't want to move.

"…Although I'm a bit busy right now. I think you can afford to wait a little bit longer. Why don't you two take a seat? Clumsy seems to have the right idea."

"Why… why did you give us the insight?" Brainy breathed. He'd made his way over to a spot not far from Clumsy.

"Don't worry," Roesia said reassuringly, "It won't be much longer. It'll all be over soon."


	12. Containment

**Chapter Twelve: Containment**

Clumsy opened his eyes, and it was impossibly bright – sunny. The sun was bearing down on him. No ceiling to block it out. He certainly wasn't in his room. Had he really fallen asleep, right there on the forest floor? How long had he been sleeping for?

Brainy was sitting upright nearby, staring straight ahead. He turned slowly and looked at Clumsy as the accident-prone smurf got into a sitting position. The normally talkative smurf didn't say anything, expression blank.

He could see Vanity too, next to Brainy but with some space between them. The same amount of distance separating Brainy and Clumsy, it looked like, with Brainy sitting right in the middle.

"Clumsy? Oh, you're awake!" Vanity said, speaking loud enough to bridge the distance between them.

There were markings on the ground.

"Did you get any sleep, Vanity?" Clumsy called back.

"Yeah. I did. Easy to do without that mirror."

Clumsy noticed then that he did still have Vanity's mirror. "Oh, yeah! Did Roesia fix things up for ya, like ya wanted?"

Vanity looked away from him. "Well… No. But as long as you have that mirror… I can't see anything." Clumsy couldn't tell what he meant by that. He still seemed to be able to see well enough.

"What're ya doin' all the way over there, anyway?"

"I would stay there if I were you."

Brainy had spoken without warning, before Clumsy had even had the chance to get up, as he was about to. Almost like he could see into Clumsy's mind.

"Oh, don't come over Clumsy, don't come over," Vanity warned him, "we're trapped."

Clumsy couldn't see any cages anywhere. "Well, gee! You could'a told me that first!"

Vanity continued, "can you feel it, that coercive force keeping you in place? The markings on the ground, they're… magically binding. That's what Roesia said when she was explaining it earlier… you can't step outside of your circle. Or rather… you shouldn't."

Clumsy sat down. He didn't like the sound of that. Now that Vanity mentioned it, he could feel something keeping him in place, a force that he sensed would react _very_ badly if he tried to move elsewhere.

"Roesia did this… so she wasn't any kinda friend after all…" for all the humans that turned out to be good and kind, there were so many more that came into their lives only to let them down, one after the other. "Where is she?" Clumsy looked about.

"I don't know," Vanity said grimly, "but I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Is anyone gonna tell me a little somethin' about what this is all about?" Clumsy looked between Brainy and Vanity.

"Roesia has the ability to see into everything about someone… and she gave Brainy and I the same power. But really, I don't know what _this_ ," Vanity gestured to the markings on the ground, "is about, it's just as new to me."

Everything about someone? So Vanity, and Brainy, had seen into him? He didn't quite know what to make of that…

* * *

Was there anything more important than time itself? Its very fabric was essential to all of reality. The things that she could _do_ … If she just had some control over it. She'd trade her insight for that chance in a heartbeat.

* * *

The game of hide and go seek had flipped over on its head. It was now the rest of the village that searched everywhere, calling out for _Brainy, Vanity,_ and now _Clumsy_ , but they were nowhere to be found. They must be pretty good at this game.

Why Clumsy? Was Clumsy "it" now, too? Baby would just have to wait and find out.

Papa Smurf hadn't even stopped to eat breakfast. Ever since he'd gotten out of bed that morning and discovered there were smurfs missing, searching for them had been his only focus.

"I'm going to go see Roesia," Baby heard Papa tell Grandpa, "perhaps she knows something about this." His tone had a decidedly suspicious note to it.

There was a little bit of back and forth, as nearby smurfs insisted for Papa not to go on his own – but nor did Papa want anyone to accompany him. Finally, he relented and allowed Hefty to come along to go to Roesia directly, along with sending a handful of smurfs off to scour other parts of the forest.

So Papa's lab stood empty, as Papa left the village. In all this confusion, Baby was going relatively unnoticed. Perhaps he should take advantage of this… He jumped up, caught hold of the outside windowsill, and pulled himself up to try and get a look at the inside of the laboratory. He wondered what Papa had been doing in there lately, instead of spending more time with him.

Baby wasn't really allowed in the lab, because it was too "dangerous". He ESPECIALLY wasn't allowed to go in there on his own – not even the grown-up smurfs were supposed to do that.

But oh, it beckoned to him all the more because of that! He could just go inside quickly now, while everyone else was distracted.

So he did. It was simple, just to open and close a door, and then he was inside.

As he looked around, he could see a great big pot of icky-looking black goo sitting on the floor just by the table. It looked like it would be really fun to play in… He reached in his arm, pulled it out again, and now it was completely covered in the stuff which dripped only very slowly.

Wow!

Kind of a little bit like… paint! But thicker. Would Painter ever be able to make use of this stuff, maybe to paint an especially lumpy night sky? That would be funny.

Paint… Baby remembered that bad dream he had recently, with the glowing paint. This stuff was kind of like the opposite, wasn't it? If only he'd been able to have it during that dream – he would have blended perfectly into the night and would never be found.

It wasn't night now, but the goo felt good, cool to the touch. He wanted to play in the goo, so he would. There was no one here to stop him. He'd never seen any of the grown-ups playing in goo before, and when would a chance like this come along again? He needed to make the most of it.

* * *

"Come on Grouchy, why don't ya lighten up a little?" Jokey said cheerily, "I'm sure Clumsy, Vanity and Brainy will turn up soon!"

At that, Grouchy began to glow, he actually began to _glow_ , and Jokey's jaw dropped. "When I said "lighten up", I didn't mean- hey!"

"I hate lightening up!" Grouchy exclaimed as some invisible force seemed to pull him across the room.

"W-what's smurfing on?" Jokey cried as he began to follow. He was glowing too! "Help!" he called out, as he and Grouchy began to be taken further and further away.

"Oh, my smurfness!" Tailor cried, dumbfounded as he saw several glowing smurfs rapidly beginning to be spirited across and out of the village, some even being lifted up into the air. Woolly tried earnestly to grab hold of Smurfette's arm, but he was only pulled along with her, it was too fast, and then he collided directly with Handy's house and she slipped away too.

And then, just as quickly as the odd phenomenon had begun, the group of afflicted smurfs were out of sight. A strange silence settled over the smurfs still standing safely within the village, who had been forced to watch helplessly as the glowing smurfs had slipped out of their reach. The air – the tension in the atmosphere – began seeming so very thick and heavy. No one knew what to say.

How many were there that had just been seemingly taken away? Where had they gone? Off into the forest, that much was clear. But where, exactly? And _why_? What had just happened?

Papa Smurf was still off in the forest, hoping to find out where Brainy, Vanity and Clumsy had gone, and so he was not here to tell them what they needed to do. But they couldn't just stay here and ignore the oddity that had just occurred.

A great sense of unease dawned on Dreamy as he looked around. This felt… familiar. The smurfs that he was surrounded by right now… the smurfs who seemingly were gone…

Some of the smurfs were now discussing that they couldn't _all_ leave the village at once, so it would probably be best for two or three of them to go off into the forest and fetch Papa, and keep their eyes out for any sign of Brainy, Clumsy, Vanity… and now, all of the other smurfs that were gone too.

Some of the smurfs had _already_ been sent out into the forest by Papa earlier to search for the three smurfs that had been found missing when they woke up, but right now, they had no clue that there were now even more smurfs they needed to be looking for…!

What a mess. At this rate, it looked like the village was going to continually fragment, merely sending out more and more search parties as more and more smurfs went missing if the situation were to compound any further.

As the discussion about who should go find Papa went on, Dreamy was hardly listening. Couldn't anyone tell? Was he just thinking too deeply into it? The familiarity he was reading into this situation was sickening, and perhaps it was irrational of him to feel this way – they were fine. The other smurfs were fine. They couldn't be sure what had happened to them, but they must simply be off in the forest somewhere, easily found, and it was going to be _fine_.

He had to tell himself that this was different. That it wasn't the same as before.

* * *

 **END OF PART ONE, "INSIGHT". The next chapter will mark the beginning of PART TWO.**


	13. Chapter 13, Beginning of Part Two

Author's Note: Just a heads up that this chapter takes an unhappy turn.

Also, if there's anything in this chapter (or story) that is confusing, please let me know.

 **PART TWO: A VILLAGE OVERTURNED.**

 **Chapter thirteen.**

Looking back much, much later, Brainy was able to piece together much of what must have happened that day – as well as the chain of events that probably took place for things to turn out as they did. He was able to make an educated assumption on what it must have been like for Roesia, too.

The glowing smurfs' luminescence finally became visible to the average eye, and said smurfs were propelled by magical force into Roesia's special little part of the forest, a portion of the ground waiting for each of them. Before long, they were all lined up in place, forming a circle around her with each smurf equally spaced apart.

Papa Smurf and Hefty were the first glowing smurfs to arrive who were not already present, apparently. Vanity and Clumsy's sudden hope for a rescue was quickly quashed upon realising that those two were just as trapped as they were. He was there too, of course – Brainy was trapped just like them, but his enchanted glasses meant that it was a fact hardly registered by his conscious self. No, only a subconscious force reigned at that time – one the other smurfs would describe to him as having been "eerie".

But once all of the glowing smurfs that Roesia sought were finally in place, Brainy could imagine that she probably started getting very excited, perhaps as giddy as a child on their birthday. She did not think, after all, that this was going to be her last day. No, as far as she was concerned, she was close, so very close to getting exactly what she wanted.

It was Vanity who'd had the bright idea of throwing a rock at Brainy's _head_. Well, at his glasses, to be more precise. None of them could safely move from their spots on the ground, and it was obvious that continuing to wear them would be bad news. Needless to say, Vanity succeeded in knocking the glasses from his face in a rather painful manner, and that's the point where Brainy's properly fleshed-out memories finally rejoin him, for better or for worse. Upon being separated from those cursed glasses, he was back – back to _normal_ , and with no clue what was going on at that. It was all a confused mess – without his glasses the world was a blur. He didn't quite know where he was and there were voices all around him.

He took a single step forward as he tried to gather his bearings, and then immediately leapt into the air with a howl. He'd stepped outside the designated markings on the ground that he wasn't even aware of and could not _see_ , and retaliation had been swift in the form of searing pain. Luckily it was over as quickly as it had begun once he was back in place, confused and not daring to try moving again.

" _Why_ are you still conscious?" someone had demanded of him. It had been Roesia. Brainy could hardly know how to begin answering such a strange question.

"The markings, you should have…" her voice trailed off, and then, after that, evidently she had turned her attention towards other matters instead.

"You know, Roesia," Vanity's voice had cut through the cacophony of everyone present, "I have been meaning to ask about this glowing. I know I tend to have a natural shine about me, but something tells me that this is a little more than that."

"Oh, well, it's from a vast build-up of accumulated temporal magic! I've never seen such huge concentrations in a single being my entire life, let alone a group like this… You all must have had quite some experiences among yourselves." Roesia's reply made it sound as if she were excited to share this knowledge. She really _had_ been getting ahead of herself.

Vanity ploughed on, probably in an attempt to distract her so that someone would perhaps come up with some way of escaping this mess. "You never did answer our question, either. Why did you give Brainy and I the insight?"

A quick laugh. "Well, why not? Isn't sharing a good thing?"

Obviously, she had given them insight in order to help with furthering her own goals, although it ultimately wouldn't have made a difference in the end. It had been an easy way to make sure that all of the smurfs she needed were accounted for… which would have been more difficult if she couldn't see the whole village and its occupants with her own eyes to verify who glowed and who didn't. That, and she had no doubt been genuinely curious what effects passing on the insight to them would have - a fun little experiment from _her_ point of view.

If there were more words exchanged between Roesia and Vanity, he hadn't heard them at that time, because Clumsy had addressed him directly. How had the conversation gone?

" _Brainy? You alright?"_

" _Oh, the insight," he whispered to Clumsy miserably once he heard the nearby voice, "I never even got to see myself with it."_

" _I wouldn't worry too much, Brainy, I don't think that's such a big deal," Clumsy tried, replying gently._

" _Oh, but it is! Vanity is so stubborn sometimes. If only you had been given the insight…"_

" _Ah, I'm not sure I'd have use for a fancy thing like that. I feel like, maybe the stuff in other smurfs' minds, should probably stay there, you know?"_

" _You could've told me what you saw, if you had it…" Brainy insisted._

 _Clumsy smiled. "I don't need a special vision to understand my friend – you don't need special powers to figure yourself out, either. That's somethin' you're 'sposed to do on your own."_

 _Silence followed, as Brainy took those words in. "That was so… profound of you to say."_

It was just after this exchange that Roesia started to make her intent clear. She wanted all of their time magic, wanted it for herself. The stuff that had become attached to their essences, presumably as they put the time crystals to use, which was not normally visible to the average eye. But for Roesia, with her special vision? They might as well have been stars burning brightly in the night sky.

"Are you connected to Balthazar?" Brainy had heard Papa Smurf demand as he felt around for his glasses. "We know very well that wizard is obsessed with seeing into the future."

"I've heard of his exploits, but no, I don't work for anyone. Why restrict yourself to the future, anyway? Time goes out in all directions. Well, it's been nice talking to you. Sorry to cut the conversation short, but it's all finally ready – time for you all to hand over the rich resources of temporal magic you all have."

There'd been two smaller circles marked out within the greater circle where the sixteen smurfs, and Smoogle, lined the circumference, all equally spaced apart.

Finally, his outstretched fingers made contact with the familiar feel of his fallen glasses – he could tell that the lens was cracked and damaged a little. How annoying. Unthinkingly, he'd slipped them back on again before it could properly click that _oh, that's right, the insight was still attached to them, and given its negative side-effects, he probably shouldn't have done that_. But something was different about this time.

Because now, he could see into Roesia, too. It must have been due to the crack in the lens… so she had merely blocked herself off from being accessible all this time, along with the other "blocks" she had put in place… and with good reason. He was just in time to see her slip her necklace off and lay it in one of the inner two circles before going to stand in the other.

A loud gasp had escaped him, heads had turned in his direction.

"It's going to kill us," he said. "We're going to die."

"What… what?" Snappy looked about fearfully, wide-eyed.

"It's not possible to extract temporal magic non-lethally," Brainy explained flatly, "and as long as we're alive and it's bound to us, no one can ever make any actual use of it, least of all ourselves."

Yes, he could finally see with clarity exactly what she'd been playing at.

Roesia had made no attempt at denial.

"Bound temporal magic… kind of like a piece of decoration for the soul… ultimately useless," he remembered Roesia saying, before Sassette's pleading voice rang out:

"Say it isn't true! _Say it isn't true_!"

They were all gazing at her in horror, but still she refused to deny Brainy's accusation. "Sorry, I didn't want you to find out _beforehand_."

Vanity spoke next. "...Say, Clumsy, could you toss me my mirror? If this really is my last day on this earth, I want to make sure I look my best."

"No… No, Roesia, you won't do this," Papa Smurf spoke up firmly. He was surely thinking very fast, intent on finding a way out of this, for all of them. "Was it not you yourself who said earlier that you had never seen such huge concentrations of temporal magic in a single being your whole life? I can see very clearly how much I'm glowing – isn't that more than enough temporal magic for you? So you can let everyone else go."

"I'm really sorry Papa Smurf. It's very noble of you for offering, but I've already got you all here, so it's not much of a bargain… There's so much that can be done with this magic, interchangeably, when it's extracted. Almost like magic currency. And there's a lot of things I want to do. I hope you can understand."

"But with everyone here, you still surely have more than enough, several times over. At least set the two smurflings free right now. Please." Brainy didn't have to think too hard to realise that he was aiming to at least get the smurflings out of harm's way first, and then he could focus on freeing everyone else.

"I really wish I could, truly, I have nothing against any of you. But I'm afraid I can't risk it. The structural integrity of the entire extraction strictly requires a full set, working together, all in the correct placements. All your temporal magic is alike and therefore connected… so this set-up I've done here maximises that."

It was then that Brainy saw Papa Smurf's expression change, as if something had just clicked together in his mind.

"…But you don't have a full set." She hadn't captured everyone with temporal magic who had been time travelling all those years ago.

She was missing Baby Smurf.

That meant the "structural integrity" of the entire extraction and the magically binding markings on the ground were already compromised. Roesia claimed that she needed a "full set" of everyone for her plan to work at maximum capacity, but she didn't have it. Perhaps that was why Brainy had not fallen unconscious upon stepping outside of the markings' confines.

If Roesia had heard him, she gave no indication. She was already chanting, at that point. As far as she was aware, she _wasn't_ missing anyone. But even if she didn't have everyone she needed, she would still be able to perform the temporal magic extraction.

She'd already started the process. He could feel it, could feel something being sucked out of him, he was losing energy.

"No," Papa then announced loudly, "not my little smurfs." And then he took a step outside of his circle.

The retaliation from the binding magic must have been immediate. Everyone could see it in Papa's pained expression – he was in pain, no doubt. But unlike Brainy, who had leapt into the air upon being greeted with the sensation, Papa stayed outside of the circle – and then took another step forward instead. With obvious effort, he kept moving one foot in front of the other, exploiting the weaknesses in the set-up's defences caused by Baby's absence. If it weren't for that, the binding markings would be too strong.

Roesia broke off her chanting when she noticed and instead began demanding that Papa return to his place. That's where she needed him, after all. But Papa ignored her and gradually continued shuffling onwards, crawling agonisingly forward when his legs gave out. The closer he got to the circle that contained the necklace, the more Roesia's shouts took on a pleading note. She even tried to swat Papa away, but such a thing required leaving her _own_ circle. She unthinkingly tried to take a step forward, to go and swat Papa away, anything, only to shriek in pain and step back as she was assailed with the very same searing sensation for leaving her place. She couldn't afford to leave her place anyway; anyone out of position would make the whole process more and more unstable. That was not in her interest. None of this was.

He was moving towards the necklace that was lying on the ground. He must have realised the sheer amount of power running through it: how it operated as the focal point of the entire extraction process. It was simultaneously the weakest and most sensitive point, yet holding the most power. If it were to be disturbed, the careful structure that Roesia set up would abruptly collapse, and with everything thrown so out of balance, the markings on the ground would no longer be magically binding.

"You don't know what you're doing! No…!" Roesia cried.

It looked like Papa Smurf knew exactly what he was doing.

"Set us all free," Papa commanded.

"I will."

"She's lying," Brainy found himself saying. He could see now how intent she was in finishing what she'd started. How she wouldn't hesitate to double-cross Papa the moment he no longer posed an immediate threat to the extraction process.

Papa was close to the enchanted necklace, now. He was close enough to touch it. And Brainy was close enough to a realisation that came just a little too late.

He saw Papa Smurf reach out and wrench the necklace out of position, and

* * *

Everyone was thrown off their feet by the magic-infused explosion that followed. Brainy landed roughly on the hard ground, the lenses of his glasses now having been shattered completely.

After a few stunned moments, he was able to note that he was relatively unharmed. The rough landing may leave some bruises, but nothing more than that.

He then had no choice but to try and rely on his ears to make sense of what was going on, since the world was nothing but a great blur to him once more without the aid of his glasses. But listening did little to clear up the confusion – there were so many sounds all around him. Sounds of distress.

Words started to get filtered through. But he didn't want to listen. They were saying the wrong things. There were scattered cries, both distant and close by. Some weeping.

"No… _No_!"

He began to see… _something_. Even though he could not see anything clearly, even with his terrible vision he could still distinguish the difference between light and dark, and there was something brightening in his vision – ah, was this it, then? Was he dying? Was he supposed to "move into the light"? No, when he moved closer he found that the light was not connected to him at all. He tripped over another smurf – Clumsy, it was Clumsy, he'd know that voice anywhere… He tried asking Clumsy what was going on. He was so glad to hear his voice and know that he was right by his side. Clumsy told him they were safe, but there was something else in his voice. He trailed off mid-sentence, his attention so focused on something else that he failed to help inform Brainy just what it was.

"Papa. Papa…" that was Grouchy. He kept saying it again and again.

"I've seen this before," said Grandpa softly. Weakly. "There's nothing… Nothing left to be done."

"That not true! I _hate_ …!"

"Papa Smurf saved us all, but he… He…" Smurfette's voice trembled.

The others would later help explain to Brainy that it had been Papa who was emanating all that light, when no one else had been glowing anymore after the explosion. It was a light that was different from the glowing caused by the temporal magic. A natural light that would take hold of a smurf's form once the soul had dissipated, according to Grandpa. And then the body would dissipate too, not leaving behind a single trace. That's how it worked when it came to smurfs. Not that anyone present apart from Grandpa had ever had a chance to discover this before.

Brainy didn't get to see Papa's form disappear. He only got to hear the reactions to it all around him as it happened in front of the very eyes that could not properly see it. It was actually quite a beautiful sight, if anyone's words to that effect could be trusted, but no sight could ever be beautiful enough to alleviate the excruciating circumstances behind it.

All he really got to see was the bright light slowly dimming, fading, as Papa faded along with it.

If only his glasses weren't damaged beyond repair, maybe he would have been able to see Papa one last time.


	14. Has Anyone Seen Papa Smurf?

**Has Anyone Seen Papa Smurf?**

* * *

Baby Smurf is found hidden away in Papa Smurf's lab, caked all over with that black slimey stuff, which had started to get a little sticky and dry. A fuss is made, a brief test is done before it's declared that the goo is "non-toxic" and that Baby is therefore perfectly fine, before a bath is drawn up to get Baby all cleaned up.

Only once it was determined that Baby was safe was the little smurfling chastised for causing such a mess.

"You should have known better than to be in Papa Smurf's lab all by yourself…! Look at your clothes, and goo is splattered all around… When Papa Smurf gets back I don't think he'll be very happy!"

Baby managed to slip away unseen to go off by himself to play once his bath was finished and he was all dried and dressed. He didn't notice the distraught smurfs who were beginning to return to the village one by one, bringing with them terrible news and looking for all the world as if they were completely lost.

No, the littlest smurf played contentedly by himself, starting to feel a bit hungry after a while, and eagerly waiting for a lunch that does not come.

…Lunch is late. Lunch is _very_ late.

When his hunger gets too distracting, he has an idea. He sneaks up to Greedy's kitchen from the outside. He does not need to go inside. And then, his fingertips extended, with just a little bit of magic, some cookies float over into his waiting hands, and he rushes off back into his little playing spot, where he was before.

The other smurfs seem busy, so he doesn't really want to disturb them. No, not busy. They are not really doing anything. But… preoccupied. And the snacks are enough to fill him up for a while.

But it's strange, he thinks, that he doesn't get any dinner. Maybe it is still coming… but it is late. He stops playing with his toys again. Well… more of Greedy's goodies for him, then. He supposed there was nothing to complain about there, because they were so yummy. Today must just be a special day, where he can get away with something special like this, so he should make the most of it, right?

So he ate some cupcakes.

And it's starting to get dark, now.

So one question starts pressing on his mind.

* * *

"Where's Papa Smurf?"

A couple of smurfs Baby asks simply turn away, and do not answer. Or, Baby decided, perhaps they _cannot_ answer. And when a smurf starts looking sadder by the moment… he steps away from them.

He found Grouchy. He was seated on the ground, knees pulled up into his chest. He noticed Baby wandering over to him from nearby.

"I don't… I don't wanna talk right now," Grouchy warned.

But Baby didn't have much choice. None of the other smurfs so far were answering him! He was getting a little impatient now.

"Grouchy, where's Papa?"

"Oh…" and just like that, it was like all the air was knocked out of Grouchy. A whole range of emotions seem to flicker over him, and Baby worries that Grouchy will just ignore him, like the other smurfs, or simply not answer.

"He's gone…" Grouchy muttered miserably.

"Where?" Baby asked curiously.

Grouchy brought his hands up to cover his eyes, his face. "He's just… gone! Okay?!"

"Okay," Baby says, even though it isn't. Grouchy clearly wants to be left alone, so Baby went to wander off.

"Sorry, I didn't mean…" Grouchy called apologetically after him. Baby turned back to acknowledge the words before heading on his way once more.

Perhaps it was not so much that the smurfs were ignoring him, but that they didn't seem to hear him at all, didn't react to his words.

He just wanted to know, because it was bedtime now, and he needed Papa Smurf in the room with him… he wanted Papa Smurf to be there. Usually some other arrangement was made in advance whenever Papa left on a trip.

Baby doesn't like to be left alone when he didn't choose to be alone. It looked like Baby was going to be alone tonight.

Smurfs already seemed to be going to bed, or shutting themselves away in their homes. Baby isn't sure if they are going to bed early or if it is really that late. Dinner still hadn't come, there was no light shining in Greedy's kitchen.

So, too, Baby supposed, he should probably sleep, as it was definitely sleeping time for him… He was predictably starting to feel tired. Reluctantly, he took himself to the room, to the bed where he sleeps. The room is so big, and he is so small. He looked out the window. Not even Puppy was there to be with him by the house tonight. For perhaps the first time in his life, he felt lonely.

Slowly, slowly, he feels sleep beginning to embrace him, but it will be a little while longer.

Then there was a noise at the window demanding his attention.

"Sm…Smoogle?"

Smoogle climbed into the room and gave Baby a hug before settling down on the bed. After a little bit, Baby felt much better when he realised that Smoogle was going to stay, snoozing by his side.

* * *

Light was streaming in through the window, greeting Baby's opening eyes. Smoogle was already awake, the small creature making its way about the room.

Baby has no idea what time it could be. Had he slept in late? Who could say? Or was he early, waking up far ahead of the breakfast bell?

But no breakfast bell came.

Did he miss breakfast? Did he sleep through the bell? Why didn't anyone come and get him?

It wasn't an ordinary day in Smurf Village. Baby could sense that something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He wasn't inclined to investigate right away; it could wait a little bit.

Smoogle caught him sneaking some more treats from Greedy's kitchen after a while when he got hungry again - but he was sure that Greedy would understand. That must've been why, before Baby had the opportunity to grow too hungry once more that day, Smoogle managed to bring him some fruit to serve as a kind of late lunch. Where he'd retrieved it from, Baby didn't know, but he found that he was somewhat relieved – he was starting to get a little sick of Greedy's goodies now, if such a thing was even possible!

For the most part, Baby was content to remain hidden away and absorbed in his own games, not least because everysmurf else seemed sort of… distracted.

He noticed something curious when wandering about the village: Brainy wasn't wearing his glasses. It looked like Clumsy was there to guide him if he needed to get somewhere.

Baby watched from a distance as Dabbler approached them. "Here's what I, um, could find…" he heard Dabbler say, laying a bunch of small pieces in a pile on the ground. It took Baby a moment to realise that they were what used to be Brainy's glasses, which caught his attention.

"Can you… fix it?" the unseeing Brainy asked.

"I'll… certainly try," Dabbler said, sounding entirely unconvinced.

Ah, but what was the big deal? What was the use crying over a pair of broken glasses?

Dabbler took all the little pieces to Papa's lab and left them there for safekeeping, leaving soon afterwards. Once the lab was unattended, Baby slipped inside. He knew he wasn't supposed to be in the lab alone, and he'd only been scolded for this exact thing just yesterday, but this was different! He wasn't just getting up to mischief – he was doing a good deed, this time!

Baby approached. _If he put his mind to it_ … Baby concentrated over the pile, and the pieces slowly began to shift. Focus, focus… and they started to move into position. There were bits missing from the mess, but… A minor setback. Once they were all in place, the missing gaps in the glass could be filled in… same with the stems, and the frames… No one saw, no one noticed the glasses magically being repaired as Baby stood by.

And then, he stood back, a little bit tired from that, and left the fully repaired glasses there.

* * *

Smoogle managed to find Baby, surrounded by his toys and acting out makeshift stories with them. When Smoogle walked off again, he decided to follow, which led him to Nanny's house.

Were Nanny's thoughts not so preoccupied and thrown into disarray, perhaps she would have picked up on Baby's recent lack of supervision, would have questioned just who was taking care of him presently. But Baby was always being taken care of by _someone_. Smurfs were always stepping in and sharing the responsibility if need be or being designated babysitter or carer. That's just how things usually were. Baby seemed healthy and fine, so she questioned it no further. She pulled him into a hug, holding him tight before releasing the embrace.

She was making dinner.

But when it was ready, she didn't ring the dinner bell. Baby followed behind her as she went from house to house, pressing a bowl into the hands of any smurf who would answer the door in a bid to get them to eat something. And when that was done, Nanny took the chance to eat something herself with Baby.

 _Papa Smurf was gone, right? That's what Grouchy had told him_.

It was when they both finished the food that Baby brought up what was idly on his mind. "Nanny, when will Papa come back?"

Nanny froze momentarily, wasn't able to look at him. Why wouldn't she look at him? Had he done something wrong? Then she put her utensils down carefully and drew him into another embrace. It was all very confusing.

She answered very softly, just by his ear, as she hugged him. "I'm very sorry. He's… not coming back."

Why not? That didn't make sense. "Where is he?"

He felt Nanny shake her head – she didn't reply.

"Is he lost? I can help! I can help find him."

Nanny was crying.

After a moment, she withdrew from the hug, and turned her face away from his as she pulled out her handkerchief, but that did nothing to prevent Baby from seeing the streams of tears from her eyes before she had a chance to dab at them. But she continued to conduct herself as if nothing had happened, asked Baby if he had liked the dinner she made. He did. She started gathering their dishes to clean, didn't seem to notice that tears were flowing down her face again. Baby didn't know what to say, didn't understand at all, so he said nothing.


	15. Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Waking up, again to an empty room as the morning light streamed in through the windows, again to no indication that breakfast was underway. Well, not today, today would be different. Baby was going to find the smurf he wanted to see.

It was true, Greedy was in his kitchen, just as Baby had expected, but what he hadn't been expecting was to find Greedy sitting on the floor in silence. The older smurf didn't even seem to notice Baby's entrance, didn't look up or react. The kitchen usually felt so lively with how busily Greedy would be bustling about the room, but today, there was none of that usual commotion, and its absence was unnerving.

"Greedy," Baby said, announcing his approach, "I'm hungry!"

He waited.

"I'm hungry," he said again. _Why_ wouldn't Greedy move?!

" _I want food_!" he whined loudly. Real food!

Finally, Greedy seemed to notice he was there, shifted his gaze as he turned towards the source of the noise, but if he was going to reply, the process was rather delayed. He'd need to be louder, Baby decided, to really get it through to him, to break whatever spell he seemed to be under.

" _Greedy, I'm hungry_!" he yelled. He did not recall ever having shouted at Greedy before, but he needed something to eat and he was frustrated – on the cusp of a rather age-appropriate temper tantrum.

Baby's words finally seemed to register as the lost look in Greedy's eyes faded somewhat. "Something to eat…" Greedy's gaze shifted away from Baby, and then, not getting up from where he sat, he reached over to a nearby box, and gave it a shove over to the smurfling. "Here, how about have some of this."

"Cookies – for breakfast?!" Baby shook his head unhappily. He never thought the adults would actually allow him to have a breakfast like that! Normally he'd be pleased, but he was _sick_ of just eating treats! That was why he'd come to Greedy directly in the first place instead of just sneaking some more goodies while waiting for some actual food. He could tell that if he just ate more cookies or more cupcakes, he wouldn't feel so good.

Greedy didn't seem to be listening anymore, having fallen back into his rather despondent state. Well then, Baby knew it was useless to stay here. He wasn't going to get food here, so he would have to find it somewhere else!

Even just a bunch of smurfberries on their own would be good, Baby thought to himself as he walked through the village. He didn't really know anything about the food storage shed in the village, let alone where it was or how to get inside. He did know, however, that it was routine for smurfs to go off into the forest and then they would come back with baskets and baskets full of smurfberries! That was easy. He'd just have to go into the forest and get some smurfberries – problem solved.

Baby walked to the end of the village, and when he reached it, he kept on going, walking straight out of the village altogether. No one noticed him leave.

He wouldn't be too long. He just needed to get some food, and then he could go back to the village again. Simple.

He walked on, looking around carefully for any signs of smurfberry bushes. After a while… Yes! There they were – smurfberry bushes. He hurried over, shoving some into his mouth right away. Then he sat, picking them off the bush casually into a pile.

Before long, there were two goblins watching him nearby.

"Heh… Well, look what we have here," the taller one smirked, and went to sneak up on the smurfling before his companion stopped him in his tracks with a hiss.

"What are you doing?! That's a _smurf_! You know… A smurf!"

"So?" the taller one was unimpressed. "It's all on its own! And it looks like it's just a little kiddie one!" he rubbed his hands together, but still the other goblin shook his head.

"Yeah, but if the adult ones find out? There's no telling…"

"Ah, well, I'm sure they'd pay us handsomely to get their precious little one back, don't you think? And we were planning on moving on from here soon anyway, weren't we? So we'll just get our payment and move far away before they can try anything funny."

The other goblin pursed their lips together, unconvinced. The taller one took this as permission to step forward in preparation to abduct the little smurfling. They could work out the details later. This was going to be a cinch – he was so much bigger and stronger than the little blue child.

All he would have to do is approach from behind, and – yes, that was it. He was in grabbing distance now. Close enough to touch. The goblin reached out a big, hairy hand to snatch Baby Smurf…

But Baby Smurf had managed to notice their presence in time, and Baby Smurf did not wish to be kidnapped. With a simple flick of his own wrist, the goblins were abruptly sent flying backwards, hurtling through the air and out of sight.

Out of sight, out of mind…

* * *

"Dabbler, did you… do this?" Brainy asked in wonder, adjusting his glasses meaningfully. Clumsy also looked at Dabbler curiously, from next to Brainy.

"Do what?" Dabbler asked, before realisation struck. "Oh… your glasses – they're fully repaired! Did I…?" he fell into silence for a few moments. "I-I guess I did…?"

If Dabbler was being honest, he couldn't remember. He couldn't really remember anything that had happened, or that he'd done, since… since…

The past few days had all just blended together meaninglessly for him. Days? How much time _had_ passed?

"Ah… But didn't Clumsy mention you'd been seeing some strange things through those glasses lately?" Dabbler remembered, his tone quickly becoming guarded.

"Oh… No, not anymore. The spell broke completely, when…" Brainy went quiet. He didn't need to continue.

"…Vanity's mirror shattered too, yeah, but he's got plenty more of those, so…" Dabbler trailed off, uncomfortably aware of how aimless and flimsy his words were. This conversation was pointless, and it was going nowhere. It was a strange act they were all currently engaged in, balancing their words so as to uphold a conversation that projected a precarious sense of "normality". Merely standing around like this and just talking was a temporary reprieve from… the realities that waited to ambush Dabbler the moment he was alone again.

But no, even that was not entirely true, as their stilted dialogue and extended pauses could attest to. You could _tell_ there was something off about all of them, and why wouldn't there be? But right now, if just to hold a conversation, it felt necessary for them to somehow pretend, and to carefully dance around the fact that their beloved leader was dead. Until they could retreat once more to be on their own, or back into their houses.

"Yeah… if Brainy was still seein' things through his glasses that he shouldn't – you'd know," Clumsy reassured Dabbler.

Well, he _hadn't_ known, before. He'd noticed that Brainy was different than usual, of course… Well, he supposed he knew what to look for now.

"So, how'd you do it, then? How did you fix my glasses?" Brainy prompted.

"Uhh…" Dabbler stood, racking his brains for any memory of the magical feat he'd supposedly pulled off, when all three smurfs turned towards a sudden commotion.

Without warning, Wild Smurf had stormed into the village chittering angrily, Baby Smurf by his side. The other smurfs looked on as he gestured animatedly at both Baby and in the direction of the forest, quite upset.

"In… in the forest?" Poet said distantly, "but…" he frowned.

Wild grumbled in exasperation, crossing his arms.

"He… wasn't in the village?"

Wild nodded. His disapproving chitters couldn't have been clearer in their condemnation of everyone's utter failure to look out for Baby.

"Well!" huffed Miner, "who was supposed to be watching him?!"

"I'm way ahead of you," murmured Harmony, retrieving and unfolding the little roster that had been done up for the village to default to, and cleared his throat. "Let's see… Brainy Smurf?"

"I should have known!" Handy spoke up harshly, pointing at the named smurf. " _You_ should have been watching him!"

"He could have gotten into serious danger," Hefty chimed in unhappily, his voice sounding slightly hoarse. Those who noticed, however, didn't find this fact too surprising. None of them were sounding very good at the moment.

"Now _wait_ just a second!" Brainy looked over the schedule, "On the day I was supposed to take over, it wasn't exactly possible. And if you hadn't _noticed_ , then my glasses were destroyed! I couldn't watch over Baby Smurf – I couldn't watch _anything_ – I couldn't _see_!"

"Mmm… those glasses, they look fine t' me," Farmer observed quietly.

Brainy threw up his arms in exasperation and went to protest some more, but Smurfette was already cutting in, just before Clumsy was also about to speak up.

"No… No, we can't have expected Brainy to supervise Baby at all. Wasn't that… Wasn't that the same day… Wasn't he missing that morning?" _And he'd only just been put under supervision himself the night before, hadn't he?_ "And then everyone was searching for him, and Clumsy and Vanity. In all that confusion, I think P… I don't quite remember, but I think we were _all_ supposed to be looking out for Baby, perhaps. I'm pretty sure at least some of us would have been told." _Given instruction of some sort._

Had _she_ been told? Everything was a blur – there'd been a lot of confusion and alarm surrounding Brainy, Vanity and Clumsy's abrupt disappearance, and things had only gotten worse on that day.

Back on that morning, everyone had been rushing about in a disordered mess. They'd all been so focused and caught up in it all… If there hadn't been some other smurf specifically assigned to watch over Baby in Brainy's place, it would have been easy to assume that it was already being taken care of, or for it to go unthought about altogether. _Papa was usually the kind of smurf who would think of everything. Had he allocated a different smurf to look after Baby on that day, knowing that Brainy was unable? There was, perhaps, no longer any way of knowing for sure. And it no longer really mattered, now._

And then everything had gone to smurf… A lot had happened… a lot had happened. And clearly, regardless of whether or not Papa had taken measures to avoid it, Baby Smurf had slipped under everyone's radar as a result anyway. That was the point of attention here.

Harmony cleared his throat awkwardly. "After Brainy, the main smurf responsible for Baby according to this schedule, starting today, was… Hefty Smurf."

Several heads turned in Hefty's direction wordlessly. Handy's face lit up with shock.

"…M-Me? Ugh… I'm sorry." Hefty's head bowed low. "I just- I…"

"Now, now, sonny, the important thing is that Baby Smurf is safe and with us right now. We'll all need to be a little more careful in future…" Nanny came over and gave Baby a little pat. "At the moment, I think all of you… need space. I'll look after Baby. Don't any of you worry."

"And what about…" Smurfette looked pained. "Don't you think we should… organise something like a… a funeral for Papa?"

"What's a funeral?" Baby piped up curiously, picking up the new word amidst the conversation. But his question went unanswered, as Nanny voiced her agreement to Smurfette's statement and the smurfs started tentatively discussing amongst themselves.

He could just go off to the side and play with his toys, then. That seemed to be what everyone wanted him to do, anyway. He'd just play alone with his toys… for now.


	16. You Wouldn't Understand

Apart from the occasional suggestion from a different smurf, it was he, the oldest smurf in the village, and Nanny who seemed to have the funeral preparations under control, which came as a relief for most smurfs who could hardly take care of themselves at the moment, let alone that too. And on this front, at least, Nanny had finally relented and allowed Grandpa to work together with her on it. On _something_. He'd been feeling so utterly useless. He was _desperate_ to give any kind of help, support or assistance in any way he could, even though he knew it would never make up for how he'd frozen in place back then, at the worst possible moment, when maybe he could have _done_ something. Why hadn't he been braver? Why had his mind been too blank to come up with something? It was a complete and utter disgrace. He was the older smurf. He had some kind of responsibility, to – _how_ could he let this happen? _He_ was the more expendable smurf. This village hardly needed him. It would have made little difference. If he had just…

Nanny tried to tell him that it "wasn't his fault", but how could she say that? She wasn't _there_. It didn't matter if no one blamed him. It didn't make a single difference to him.

But Nanny could see clear as day how much Grandpa was struggling, that he could hardly expect to help others before he helped himself. Of course she'd been deeply impacted too, but she was easily holding up the best out of everyone. Even Grandpa could see that, even while he still tried to insist on alleviating any burdens she'd chosen to carry on her shoulders.

Now they more than welcomed offered assistance in the funeral planning from others – it was just that it was very sparse, and most were content to leave them to it. In spite of their open-arms policy, however, when Brainy approached them with a long sheet of paper containing a list in his hands, they were more than a little guarded, but could hardly _refuse_. They allowed the younger smurf to come into their midst, speaking of how planning and organising was his forte, and although they frequently had to reign him back in or curb some of his more outlandish thoughts, he actually proved to be surprisingly helpful for once. They both got the distinct impression that Brainy was glad to have a task at hand, as grim as this one could be in the grand scheme of things, in order to distract himself from the reality and gravity of the situation.

* * *

Apparently, Nanny was going to watch over Baby now. Well, it didn't make all that much difference to him. She gave him proper meals, and he got to stay in her house, which was quite alright. But he really wanted Papa Smurf to come back soon. He tried asking a whole bunch of smurfs about that, but no one could quite explain it properly, or in fact very well at all. "You wouldn't understand", they told him, they had _been_ telling him, and he started hearing that phrase, over and over again, until it started playing over in his mind on its own.

You wouldn't understand.

You wouldn't understand.

You wouldn't understand.

"Can I help?" Baby asked. Grandpa, Nanny and Brainy were all busy discussing and working on _something_. The "funeral", it sounded like. But even if he didn't really know what a funeral was, that didn't mean he couldn't help them. That didn't mean he couldn't _learn_.

Only Brainy, the nearest of the three, seemed to have heard the small voice offering assistance, and he hardly spared Baby a glance.

"…No. Sorry, Baby, but you wouldn't understand any of this that we're planning and working on."

 _You wouldn't understand_.

Baby left to go and speak to Poet from nearby when it became clear that Brainy didn't have more words to share with him, too engrossed in what he was doing.

"What's a funeral?" he asked once more, this time to the poet-crafting smurf. Maybe _he_ would explain it, where the others hadn't.

"It's for us to all say goodbye… to Papa Smurf," Poet tried to explain.

"Goodbye?"

Poet nodded solemnly.

 _How could they say goodbye to Papa Smurf when he wasn't here?!_

 _Was he coming back just to leave again?_

And obviously, from the way everyone was behaving, Baby could tell that this "goodbye" was somehow different from a normal "goodbye". It was a special "goodbye".

The smurfs seemed to think Papa Smurf would not EVER be coming back, which was something Baby truly could not fathom. Is that what Papa Smurf had told them before his departure? That he would not be returning? But he had never told Baby anything like that. Baby thought that Papa liked living in the village. So why would he leave? The other smurfs must be mistaken. Baby could not accept that he would never return, that was just too... Well. The thought made him too sad. So yes, there had to be some kind of mistake.

"…Why do we have to say goodbye?"

"To help us move on."

"Move… on?" Baby blinked up at Poet. He had not exactly heard such phrasing before.

Poet turned away. "…You wouldn't understand."

But he _wanted_ to understand.

He was _going_ to understand, one way or another. Baby had an idea. A rather ambitious idea. He wasn't sure whether it would work. But he was going to try.

* * *

There was a knocking at Brainy Smurf's door. After a delay, the door creaked open. If Brainy was surprised to find that it was Baby Smurf looking up at him on the doorstep, he didn't show it. It didn't seem to faze him.

"What is it," he said flatly. From the sound of his voice, it almost seemed like he'd just been crying.

"Teach me to read," said Baby, cutting straight to the point. "…Please!" he added on quickly. Papa Smurf had always taught him to mind his manners.

Brainy, at first, did not seem to register what Baby was saying to him, or rather, _asking_ of him, so Baby tried again.

"Teach me! Teach me reading."

"…Teach you? Teach you to read?"

"Yes!"

Brainy looked irritable. "You can hardly _talk_ , and you expect me to teach you how to _read_?!"

"I can _learn_!" Baby knew for a fact that Brainy would normally be jumping for joy at this opportunity. He would probably lead him inside to get him started right away, lack of speech or not. But Brainy, just like everyone else, had been different lately.

"It's just not realistic. You're too young, you wouldn't _understand_ -"

"Please!"

Brainy shook his head, seeming distracted. "I'm sorry. But I'm… I'm busy. With the preparations."

 _For the "funeral", right?_

And then Brainy issued a quick goodbye, and shut the door once more.

It was just Baby's luck that he'd caught Brainy at a bad time. He could vaguely remember Brainy trying to teach him to read before, but back then Baby hadn't been very interested. It had been a bit _boring_ and hard to understand, so he didn't really take anything in. Papa had told him that there was no rush, and that he'd be able to read just fine when he was older. Why couldn't that be _now_?

And he knew that Brainy could do it. He'd taught Sassette to read, after all. If anysmurf could teach him to read, it was _him_.

* * *

He came back the next day, asked for Brainy's help once more.

"Teach me! Teach me!" he pleaded. Brainy only sent him away again. When Baby lingered outside Brainy's door for a little while longer, he thought he could hear crying.

He wouldn't be deterred. Baby came right back the next day after that. He would show Brainy how prepared to learn he really was. And finally, Brainy relented.

"Well… If you really are this eager… Maybe I can try to teach you. But wait until after the funeral. It's happening tomorrow."

"Okay!" Victory. Baby Smurf was going to learn how to read. That was step 1.


	17. Is It Opposite Day Yet?

It was the day of the funeral, and the atmosphere in the air was suitably sombre to match. "Sombre" – Clumsy had needed to have that word explained to him by Brainy.

Many smurfs had remained scattered throughout the village these days, many rarely emerging from their homes. It was possible that some of them weren't even fully aware that funeral preparations had been underway. Full attendance was only to be expected, Brainy had explained to him, which is why he'd been sent to go check on smurfs and remind them that today was the funeral and they were expected to be there. Not that anysmurf would be planning on not attending, but you could never be too sure, had been Brainy's way of looking at it - that's why Clumsy was currently wandering about from home to home.

"Sloppy, is that you? Just droppin' by to let ya know that-"

"Sloppy? Sloppy Smurf?! You think I-?!" the other smurf seethed, absolutely incensed.

"Oh gosh, sorry Vanity, I didn't mean – my mistake, I shoulda known better, just kinda assumed because well-" Well. He found himself looking about. It was Sloppy's house that was usually such a mess, after all. Then again, although this place didn't currently smell the best, Sloppy usually smelled far worse. He shouldn't have assumed, and should have probably paid more attention to whose house he was entering, but it was also completely unlike Vanity to not keep himself and his dwelling tidy.

Clumsy could see the embarrassed flush that lit up Vanity's face. He was just making things worse. "…Sorry. Just remindin' you about the funeral today, is all."

"R-right. _Thank you_ , Clumsy. Now _please_ , just leave me." He began searching about the floor, muttering to himself. "My mirror, where's my mirror… a mirror… Surely – I've got to see…"

"I'm real sorry again, I can leave if ya really want, or-or- would ya like some help?" Clumsy ventured.

Vanity continued looking about moodily, still no mirror in sight. "Of all the unsmurfy things- ooh, I've never been so humiliated in all my life…"

"Vanity, d'ya need – would ya like some help there?" Clumsy asked again.

Vanity stopped, sighed. "Why don't you draw me up a bath?" he suggested.

* * *

Vanity was all washed and ready with time to spare before the funeral, and even sprayed on some perfume when he found a bottle so he could go back to being his usual nice-smelling self. Clumsy offered to help him clean up his house a little bit, but Vanity cautioned him against it.

"Ah… I guess, yeah, I might just make more of a mess, huh?" Clumsy guessed. He really was keen to help, but he wasn't called "Clumsy" for no reason.

"Oh, it's not really that- it's just that, er… I don't want you to get hurt, or accidentally get any cuts from uh… broken glass. I _may_ have broken some of my mirrors."

"Wh- Vanity, how'd ya manage an unsmurfy thing like that? You're sayin' there could be glass shards lyin' among this mess?" Clumsy cast his gaze about once more, seeing if he could spot any. "That's uh – dangerous!"

"I know, I know. I think I got around to cleaning most of the glass up…" he sighed. "I just, hated seeing those mirrors. I think I've seen enough of myself for a lifetime! If only I hadn't been so attached to that stupid – me and that enchanted _mirror_ basically caused…!"

"H-Huh?! No, Vanity, that's not true!" Clumsy protested.

After a moment, Vanity pulled himself together once more, speaking dismissively. It was obvious that he didn't believe Clumsy's words of reassurance. "Well, whatever. I didn't like seeing my mirrors, so I broke them. It was stupid of me, but it's done now."

Clumsy did his best not to let his shock at the fact that the act had been intentional show through. Clumsy had caused glass to break an unfortunate number of times, but he couldn't quite grasp the notion of doing it on _purpose_. He opted to pull Vanity into a hug. "Hey. It's gonna be okay. We jus' gotta support each other."

"Thanks, Clumsy, I mean it. I'm glad you – I mean, if any other smurf had seen – I think I simply would have smurfed right then and there."

"An' even if I might not be the best smurf to help ya out if there might be hidden glass around, I'm sure anysmurf'd be happy to help clean up an' get this place back t' normal. Looks a bit much t' handle on your own-"

Vanity pulled back from the hug sharply. "Oh, no, you can't tell anysmurf about-" he gestured about at the mess, " _this_. Heavens, no! It _has_ to stay between you and me, Clumsy. I'm sure I can… get this mess under control. I'll be fine."

"Er, are ya sure?" it was a tall order, but he supposed if Vanity set his mind to it, his house could be returned to its normal meticulous state.

"It's just a little-" Vanity gave a brief, humourless laugh, "-hard to _care_ these days, but I'm sure I'll manage!"

"Uh-"

"But say, don't you still have smurfs you need to check on before you get ready for the funeral?"

"Right, yeah. You wanna come with me?" Clumsy offered. He figured Vanity could certainly use the fresh air and some more time in other company.

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose I will. I'm already ready to leave, after all…"

They left the house behind, stepping outside. It was a little strange, not seeing Vanity accompanied by his standard handheld mirror, both of his hands currently empty. Even if he'd managed to find one to take with him – one that wasn't broken – based on the smurf's earlier words, Clumsy wouldn't be surprised if he'd still choose to leave it behind. He vaguely wondered whether any of the other smurfs would notice the absence, and whether Vanity felt strange at all leaving the house without it.

They visited the remaining houses without incident, then happened to cross paths with Brainy on their way to the designated location for the funeral.

"Oh, hi there Clumsy. Vanity, haven't seen you in a while… I suppose you're looking at arriving early? A good idea. As Pa-… That is, as the saying goes… "Better three smurfs too soon than a smurf too late"." A brief, awkward silence settled in.

"Hey Brainy, actually, good thing we came across ya. Vanity's gotten it into his head that he's responsible for what happened, he's gotten it all wrong an' I was hopin' you could help correct him, since you like correctin' other smurfs an' all. You could probably explain it better than I could," Clumsy said.

" _Clumsy_ ," Vanity hissed, but the words were already out in the open. Vanity might have asked the accident-prone smurf to keep quiet about the current state of his house and belongings, but he hadn't said anything about not bringing up Vanity's current self-condemning outlook. And just as well, as Clumsy couldn't allow him to go on thinking like that.

"Oh," Brainy looked a little surprised, "I can tell you right now that it's really not your fault at all. It's not the fault of either of us."

Vanity huffed. "That's a bit typical, isn't it? Refusing to shoulder the blame for something?"

There was a frustrated grimace on Brainy's face now. "I'm telling you-"

"What would you know?"

"More than you. You think I haven't smurfed about it? So I'm going to put this unsmurfy thought of yours to rest. Roesia's plans would have been carried out exactly the same regardless of whether we played into her hands or not. And I know this because I saw into her mind, which you did not. She didn't need to give us the Insight. She did so out of sheer curiosity, and because it simply helped her confirm for certain which smurfs glowed and which didn't, so that she knew who to target. She liked being precise about these things. But even if it weren't for that, she'd met most of us anyway to be able to tell for herself. And she could have simply used her magic to summon which smurfs were needed either way. So, you can spare yourself the needless sense of guilt, Vanity Smurf. It wouldn't change anything anyway."

"Well. That all sounds rather convenient."

"It's also true. Smurf what you wish about me, but if it were any other way, I'd be smurfing the same guilt. But that's not the case here. You need to accept that. If you'd seen into her mind, you would see it the same way I do."

Clumsy stepped in. "Y'know, I think he's right. Maybe just think about it, maybe just a little? An' there's no need to argue. 'Specially _today_ of all days."

Vanity looked away, opting not to say any more, and Brainy nodded at Clumsy's words. "Well, if you two really do want to arrive early, maybe you'd best be going now. I'll see you there."

* * *

Brainy and Vanity next spoke soon after the funeral concluded and smurfs were dispersing.

It was Vanity who approached. "I'll… think about what you said."

"Hm," was all that Brainy had to offer up in response.

"Though… don't you think about what could've been different? What _might've_ been different, if we hadn't accepted the Insight?" Vanity found himself asking. Brainy's version claimed that they really wouldn't have ultimately made a difference either way, regardless of what they'd chosen to do. But what kind of flow-on effect might a different decision have had? There was still that slight chance that it might have nudged things in a different direction, and that bothered him.

"…Yes. And you know what? It also could've been worse. If Roesia'd simply come up with a different plan to get her way, succeeded, then we'd all have died. It's pointless thinking it over. I don't know about you, but I've got far more pressing things to think about. And I've got reason enough to be miserable at this situation already without trying to add to it by illogically heaping blame on myself, so you shouldn't do that to yourself either."

"I… well. I suppose."

Brainy's words seemed to hold some truth to them; there was no real point trying to figure out who was more at fault. It was already finished. No point holding onto it… No point dwelling on hypothetical possibilities.

"No one hates you, no one's blaming you. The other smurfs understand. I mean, it's not like either of us could have foreseen Roesia's intent or have had any influence over her actions," Brainy said simply, his voice weary.

"Yeah. Guess so." Speaking of weary… Vanity felt it was high time he returned to his home. He just wanted to go there and – _he should clean up first, he should get started cleaning up the place_ – but he just wanted to go straight to sleep. Sleep first. The mess could wait. He could get started on fixing that up later.


	18. The Smurf That Depends On Everyone

**The Smurf That Depends On Everyone**

* * *

It was the day after the funeral. Does it technically count as a funeral if there's no body? Or wouldn't that be called a "memorial" instead? Or was that just overthinking a typically human custom and terminology that couldn't neatly be applied to smurfs in the first place? Not that it really mattered, Poet supposed.

He'd been here before, hadn't he? Mourning the loss of Papa Smurf? He'd had experience with this before, back when all those smurfs had gotten lost in time. But back then, it had been different. It had all been up in the air as no one had been sure of what had become of the smurfs, if or when they'd be coming back. It had been painful, but the notion that they were really gone was also somewhat of a gradual one that crept in over time, constantly being fought off as they'd all attempted to retain hope. It was dished out in portions for him to come to terms with. It had still been difficult, so very difficult. But it had also been very different to what he was experiencing right now.

He still couldn't have been emotionally prepared for this. This was sudden. It was swift and it was devastating, completely bowling him over, rendering him numb at first, where it felt like everything around him was strangely muted.

This was permanent. There was no chance of Papa ever coming back.

Some smurfs were gathered about idly. Baby Smurf was playing in his sandbox nearby.

"What are we going to do?"

"With Papa gone, how will we…?"

"We'll be fine," Farmer spoke up. "We managed to get by without Papa Smurf before. We can do it again. We already did it for six long years and then some."

Farmer was, of course, referring to everyone who had been left behind to deal with the fallout when seventeen of them had been snatched away by time travel. But some of the smurfs, such as Smurfette, Handy, Jokey and Lazy, who'd been _among_ those seventeen and were present in the small group that had gathered, all glanced between themselves uncertainly at Farmer's words. Maybe most of the village already had experience with not having Papa around and in charge, but _they_ didn't. This was entirely new territory for them, the notion of this sort of loss entirely fresh, and when they weren't dealing with their grief, they had no idea what to think or how to feel about it.

"No… _No!_ " Dreamy exclaimed suddenly in a tone of defiance. "I won't! Not again. We _can't_ do that again! Not like that. I _refuse_! It needs to be different – _different_ this time. Or else I - I'll _leave_!"

"L-Leave?!"

"Leave the village, huh…?" Grandpa murmured to himself.

"I mean it. I'll go and I won't come back if I need to," Dreamy warned, still sounding rather frantic.

"Wait, whoa, whoa, hold on, no need to be rash," Handy cautioned, looking alarmed at the outburst. "We don't… I mean, I'm sure we can all talk things through, no need to do anything drastic."

Dabbler gave a brief hum. "So what would that involve exactly, doing things "differently"?"

"I don't know. But I'll tell you this: this village can't be trusted to keep itself running," was Dreamy's firm reply.

Dabbler frowned. "What are you saying?"

"Uh…" Jokey fiddled with his hands. "So ya mean like, are you talking about… someone being in charge…?"

There was a silence.

"Well," began Farmer, "I would think not. And now is not the time to smurf such things, so I'd appreciate anysmurf to refrain from such outlandishness, as nothing would come of it so it might as well be put to rest. Besides, it's not like there's any smurf among us who can-"

"Oh, what about Scaredy?" Nosey spoke up, promptly grabbing and pulling the smurf in question who was walking past nearby into the discussion group. Scaredy, for his part, appeared to try and shrink away.

Smurfette, Handy, Jokey and Lazy all promptly burst out laughing. Even Grandpa was smiling to himself.

"Scaredy? _Scaredy Smurf_?!" Smurfette wheezed, practically doubled over with laughter.

"Oh, gee Nosey, that's a good one! Cheered me right up!" Handy added, wiping away a tear of mirth from one eye. Nosey only stared back blankly.

At first, Scaredy had looked deeply alarmed by Nosey's initial suggestion. But as the laughter went on, his expression changed into one of distinct annoyance and he crossed his arms with an air of indignation. He considered making some kind of remark, but seeing as Farmer was present, he ultimately decided against it.

The laughter finally died down. None of the other smurfs seemed to have found the suggestion remotely funny.

"Smurf-a-rooney, I'm sure you- we can all smurf through this together, no matter what, or how. We're all going through a lot, and we have a lot on our plates. But there's no need to panic or be impulsive. We simply need to work together to do what's best for the village," said Grandpa, before adding on: "And any discussion on what's best for the village should be had among _everyone_ , giving all an equal voice, not just a couple of us who happen to be standing around."

"Yeah…" Smurfette sighed in agreement, and then turned to look over at Baby, who was still happily playing among the sand. The other smurfs all followed her gaze. "You know," she continued thoughtfully, "I guess we always figured that Baby was destined for leadership - to lead a village of his own someday. If we did need a leader, he'd probably be the one smurf who could do it. But he can't, of course. He's too young, and if he were to be a leader, it would be for a future generation. Not us. We never thought we'd be in this position. But we still need to help take care of him, because he relies on us. That's why we have to work together. We have to help ourselves to be able to help him." She turned back to face the others. "But don't you find it a little ironic? The perfect leader, someone possibly destined for the role, could be sitting right there in front of us, except too young to understand a thing."

Poet moved a little closer to where Baby was, letting Smurfette's words hang in the air. Baby looked up at him at his approach, and then over at the others, finally noticing and acknowledging their presence. He smiled a lovely smile, all the picture of perfect youthful innocence. A handful of sand was casually tossed into the air in welcome.

" _I like sand!_ " was seemingly the only thing he had to say to them at that moment, his singular humble offering to contribute to conversation. It was a cheerful declaration, bound up in all its simplicity and spoken with a reassuring conviction.


End file.
